The Shocking Truth!

[errantember]

Austin, Texas receives only 2 inches less rainfall per year than Seattle. We just get it all in two big bursts in the spring and the fall. Seattle gets a little all year 'round. If you want to keep that water around to use in Austin, you have to store it somewhere.

Austin is also at the same latitude (30') as Cairo, and only 3' longitude away from the Great American Desert.

Comments

Neat!

[double00range.livejournal.com]

When I try to tell people that they don't believe me. Houston actually gets quite a bit more rain on average, except they have the inverse pattern that we have. Seattle gets most of its rain in the Winter/Spring, and nearly droughts every summer dropping to less than an inch in some summer months. Houston on the other hand gets most of its rain in the Spring/Summer (in the form of large gully washers) and less rain in the winter, though it still maintains an average rainfall of 2-3 inches all winter. This is important information because Seattle actually fluctuates between too much rain and not enough, which means that storing water is also a good idea here. I just got a rain barrel and it's awesome! I'm going to get another one soon.

Another cool fact is that Washington hangs out at the same latitude as France. Winemakers only realized this a couple decades ago. Washington is quickly becoming a major exporter of wine in the US (competition for California's Napa valley!) because our various river valleys can successfully grow the same grapes as France's west coast.