Despite being known for rainforests, most of the region of the Pacific Northwest on the windward side of the Cascade mountains is surprisingly dry during the summer, specifically. By the end of August, the undergrowth foliage is thinner, and brown grass is common.
>>2732111its the beavers.
>>2732111We have mountains on the peninsula that the puget lowlands are on the leeward side of. Once you get south of them it gets much wetter. There are areas that are very dry and balmy from the rainshadow. Once you get ON the west cascades you get a lot more rain, practically a rainforest in areas, but not as much as the windward side of the olympics.
>>2732140Where are some unexpectedly wet areas of Washington? I'd like to explore more of the state and I prefer forests to desert.
>>2732400Can't beat the windward side of the Olympics. Check out the Hoh Rainforest. It's a long drive and popular this time of year though.
>>2732111>on the windward side of the Cascade mountainsthats hardly the "northwest" anyone who lives on the coast calls that the interior
>>2732111the san juan islands and canadian gulf islands are practically a tropical paradise
>>2732111200 years of deforestation and massive filling of wetlands (all across the west coast not just Washington) have appreciably changed the weather.Washington used to have a much longer rainy season and a much wetter summer but that's all changed appreciably in the last 30 years--we now have a dry season and a wet season. The Olympic peninsula is already dangerously close to drougt season and droughts and dry seasons are much more common now than they've ever been in recorded history.Thanks logging cartels, garbage urban planning and zero stormwater treatment.
>>2732685Ahhh yes cutting down trees has changed the way the Pacific Ocean builds weather systems.
i love westport
>>2732685>massive filling of wetlandsugh, the amount of indian mansions built up on marshlands here is ridiculous. they claim they are growing blueberries but how many blueberries can you really sell these days. anyway they all complain when the spring freshet floods over the dykes since this used to be a floodplain and its just like are you retarded, this is how nature intended and youre fighting against something immensly more powerful than you or however much money you think you can throw at it
>>2732685>>2732987i sure it has nothing to do with a 2° temperature change in the last 100yrs lolhttps://statesummaries.ncics.org/chapter/wa/
>>2732754Trees create rain and act as climate buffers--this isn't even debated among people who study climate and weather. It's clear you have no idea what you're talking about and are very stupid but creating clouds and making rain are part of a cycle that covers land and see--even children learn this, I guess not you though.>>2732996I don't trust those measurements. You don't need to include 5% temperature variations to show that deforestation significantly impacts weather patterns.
>>2732996It could easily be both, did you consider that?>>2732754Honestly I always admire people that can charge in and be so confident. I also genuinely appreciate how succinctly you've made your point. That said you are wrong. For instance, here is the wikipedia article discussing it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_and_climate_change
>>2733007>climate change is only due to local factorsno I havent considered that because im not retarded.>>2733001>I don't trust those measurementsso you just make up your own data? lol
>>2733001Sure whatever, but you do realize that the timber companies go ahead and plant trees back to harvest in 30 years or whatever right? I fly over all the timber land all the time... it's all trees, not empty plots. It's not like they are magically turning their property into voids of desert.Regardless of whatever science you have to support your position, it's a small factor compared to what the ocean is doing. You can argue on a grand scale forestry and construction affect the oceans but the ocean is way more dominant than the local factors.
>>2733025ok>>2733027ah, but not all forest is the same. for example water collects less efficiently and is lost much faster from plantation forests. so you're right that large scale weather patterns are more affected by the oceans, but when you're thinking about the actual water relations on the ground, vegetation structure matters a lot.
>>2733037Sure, a new-growth forest isn't the same as an old-growth forest, and that'll have varying affects on local flora/fauna and water retention and kinds of environment. These are however local effects. You see far more impact from weather systems moving in from the ocean and colliding with geographic masses causing orographic effects like lifting up mountains, or around the olympics creating the puget sound convergence zone. If I dump a bucket of water on some grass, I don't say the grass caused the bucket of water, even if the shade caused by the grass keeps the water from evaporating.
>>2733038I think we may be talking at cross purposes. >>2732685>>2733001I would be interested to read some stats for this specifically discussing logging in the PNW. I have found many sources discussing how logging in the amazon can strongly affect weather systems elsewhere, but very little from elsewhere.
>>2732111Topography. Rainfall picks up to 25-40 inches again in north Idaho and NW Montana and on E WA/OR mountains (eg Wallowa Whitman OR and Spokane Mt WA). Just like it does in Arizona and Utah after the jet stream passes over dry Nevada and the Sonoran desert. After clouds dump rain via orographic lift they tend to gain enough elevation so as to lower rainfall on the leeward side of the ranges until they encounter similar elevation ranges again further east. And even despite that, the Palouse is one of the most productive dryland farming wheat growing zones in North America and has been since before my grandfathers' time (1930s). According to him in WW2 the region had a farming boom due to the price of wheat doubling from great depression to the start of the US involvement in the war and a transition from horses to mechanization, golden hills as far as the eye could see back then.
>>2734143Oh and also as to the windward sides seasonal mediterranean pattern of precipitation, this is due to the pacific jetstream (the mother jetstream of all of North America) dipping south during the North American monsoon in July and August, leaving those months as often the driest of the year in the PNW and the wettest of the year in places like AZ, NM and UT. Also smaller coastal ranges again will catch huge portions of the precipitation and leave valleys on the leeward side of them relatively dry. Another example of this is the OR coast ranges which get 60-120 inches of precipitation, while more inland protected valleys like Portland get only 30-40 inches tops, until it picks up again on the windward cascades.
