A large area of northwest Washington lies in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains—including the northern portion of Kitsap and Jefferson Counties, Whidbey Island and the San Juan Islands.

As wet air moves in from the Southwest over the Pacific Ocean and up into the Olympics, moisture is dumped onto the western slopes. The effect is two fold—rain forests with up to 200 inches of precipitation on the west side, and the rain shadow area northeast of the Peninsula with amounts of only one-half of the rainfall normal (20 inches vs 40 inches) for the region.

What does this mean? We live in an area that historically receives less rainfall than surrounding areas, yet the beautiful Puget Sound is all around. The best of both worlds!