Some of the wettest land in the Lower 48 sits ~100 miles from high desert. The Olympics and Cascades wring out Pacific storms on their western slopes, leaving eastern Oregon and Washington dry country. The drizzly Northwest is a thin coastal strip.

Some of the wettest land in the Lower 48 sits ~100 miles from high desert. The Olympics and Cascades wring out Pacific storms on their western slopes, leaving eastern Oregon and Washington dry country. The drizzly Northwest is a thin coastal strip.