Rains All the Time: a Connoisseur's History of Weather in the Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is, of course, famous for rain. In this brief book, David Laskin explores the myths and the realities of our climate, as perceived by early explorers, pioneers, weather scientists, writers, native residents, and immigrants. As Laskin states early in the book, “While incestuous siblings, crazed beauticians, and bellowing half-wits parade through the fictions of the Deep South, we get floods, suicidal winters, and punishingly low barometric pressure. Call it meteorological gothic”. In alternating chapters, Laskin describes the weather by season, enlivening his technical descriptions with quotes from a variety of observers.

Sir Francis Drake reported “extreame and nipping cold” and “vile, thicke, and stinking show more fogges.”

Captain James Cook encountered “moderate and mild” weather, but later “blowing in squalls with hail and sleet, and…thick and haze”. Which may explain why Cook managed to miss the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, although finding the Northwest Passage was one of the goals of his expedition.

Lewis and Clark had the misfortune to arrive in November, just in time for our wildest weather. They progressed from “Cloudy rainey disagreeable morning” to “tremendious wind”, and finally to my personal favorite, “O! how horriable is the day”. Eventually Clark abbreviated his weather observations to “The rain &c.” or “rained last night as usual” It seems the Corps of Discovery may have suffered from a touch of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Pioneer W.S. Gilliam insisted that “Before we reached the Cascade Falls the gates of heaven seemed to have opened and the rain came down in torrents….For days and nights my clothes were never dry.”

Novelist Tom Robbins found that “October lies on the Skagit like a wet rag on a salad”.

H.L. Davis, author of the Pulitzer prize winning Honey in the Horn provides this fictional description: “There were a few weeks in October when the days were warm and still, when leaves browned and grass ripened in the sun and the reflection of light from the sea lasted until long after nightfall…Afterwards the sky blackened and snow fell, and from that time until spring the rain never totally stopped and the light never entirely started.”

But nothing tops Ken Kesey in Sometimes a Great Notion: “Because nothing can be done about the rain except blaming. And if nothing can be done about it, why get yourself in a sweat about it?...falls on the just and unjust alike, falls all day long all winter long every winter every year, and you might just as well give up and admit that’s the way it’s gonna be, and go take a little snooze.”

Unfortunately, Laskin reveals some dirty secrets that Pacific Northwesterners don’t want you to know:
1) Seattle and Portland actually get less precipitation (34 and 38 inches per year, respectively) than most cities east of the Mississippi.
2) The compensation for months of winter drizzle is gorgeous summer weather. The average total precipitation for the months of June, July, and August is 2 inches for Seattle, and 3 inches for Portland.
3) East of the Cascade range (approximately 2/3 of the land mass), Washington and Oregon are high desert.

A four-page bibliography provides a good overview of literary and scientific writing on the weather of the region. show less

A great (and quick) read, with chapters about our weather as seen by explorers, settlers, scientists and writers alternating with chapters focusing on each season and its, well, peculiarities. Conversational and amusing, with lots of great quotations from early sources. Although the meteorology is probably more up to date in Cliff Mass's new book, this is a good introduction not just to the region's weather but to a bit of its history as well.

This fun little book examines the weather, and myths about the weather in the Pacific Northwest. Laskin analyzes the weather month by month and discusses its most important characteristics. It is eminently readable, and is written with humor and irony.