The Wet and Slightly Less Wet Microclimates of Seattle

When Seattleites talk on the phone, it’s not too rare for one person to complain about the drizzle and the other to say, “But it’s sunny here." The city is notorious for its microclimates—stark but small geographic divides in temperature and precipitation that seem to flaunt the laws of weather.

Now the city has produced a map outlining the borders of these various wet and not-quite-as-soggy zones. Seattle Public Utilities took historical averages from 17 rain gauges, and found areas along the downtown waterfront are oddly less sodden than the northern and southern parts of town. Folks living in Belltown can expect an average of 32 inches of rain a year, for example, whereas those in Rainier Beach face 40 inches of H2O.