Soggy January Comes To An End
It was also the last time we had a January this wet.
Seattle finished up the month with 11.65 inches of rain, making it the wettest January since 1953 -- home of the original rain streak -- when they had 12.92" of rain. (That stands as the wettest month ever in Seattle.)
Overall, this month ranks as the third-wettest month ever, just another heavy shower behind the 11.85" that fell in December 1979.
While nearly a foot of rain might seem pretty soggy, and it is, it pales in comparison to some other cities around Western Washington. Hoquiam (22.96") and Shelton (23.27") approached two feet, while Forks at 24.39" actually had two feet plus a little leftover.
The rainfall totals get even more impressive if we go back to when this 6 week deluge began in mid-December.
Here's some area rainfall totals since Dec. 15:
| City | Dec. 15-31 | January 1-31 | Total |
| Shelton | 12.91" | 23.27" | 36.18" |
| Hoquiam | 9.71" | 22.96" | 33.67" |
| Forks | 8.87" | 24.39" | 33.26" |
| Olympia | 8.11" | 15.86" | 23.97" |
| Tacoma | 6.63" | 12.32" | 18.95" |
| Seattle | 6.44" | 11.65" | 18.09" |
| Everett | 4.24" | 7.37" | 11.61" |
| Bellingham | 3.68" | 7.87" | 11.55" |
| Port Angeles | 3.34" | 7.87" | 11.21" |
Just Missed Another 1953 Record
While we came up just short on getting to 1953's monthly rain record, we also came up just short on tying Jan. 1953 for the cloudiest month ever.
That fateful month in 1953 was cloudy every single day -- 31 for 31. This month? Well, apparently the sun came out on Jan. 25 juuuuust long enough to barely officially qualify the day as "partly cloudy", making it 30 for 31 days cloudy, and another second-place finish. (December 1966 also was 31-for-31 cloudy too.)
We Did Get One Rainfall Record
One record we did steal away was the record for rainfall over any 30 day period, set Dec. 19-Jan. 18, when we had 14.02" of rain. But the record we broke (12.95") came from 1972, not 1953.
Lots Of Mountain Snow Too!
The wet month down here translated into feet and feet of snow up in the mountains.
Just in the last few days of the month, Mt. Baker had nearly 100" of snow. Snoqualmie was pushing 60 inches. Snow bases around the area were well over 100", with Mt. Baker nearing 200 inches.
Even B.C. has been enjoying the snow, with Whistler setting their January record for most snow in a month (185 inches.)
How's February Shaping Up?
Well, it's looking like we won't be in double-digit rain this month. We have one more storm to get through Friday and Saturday, and then it looks like we'll dry out for a while. Meaning we won't have to reminisce about 1961's record of 9.11 inches of rain in February, which is probably OK, since I hear the Yankees won that year too...