Geography and Climate
Olympia is located at 47°2′33″N 122°53′35″W / 47.04250°N 122.89306°W / 47.04250; -122.89306 (47.042418, −122.893077).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 19.68 square miles (50.97 km2), of which, 17.82 sq mi (46.15 km2) is land and 1.86 sq mi (4.82 km2) is water.
The city of Olympia is located at the southern end of Puget Sound on Budd Inlet. The Deschutes River estuary was dammed in 1951 to create Capitol Lake. Much of the lower area of downtown Olympia sits on reclaimed land. The cities of Lacey and Tumwater border Olympia.
Olympia has a Marine West Coast climate (Köppen Csb), though sometimes characterized as Mediterranean. Most of western Washington's weather is brought in by weather systems that form near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. It contains cold moist air, which brings western Washington cold rain, cloudiness, and fog. November through January are Olympia's rainiest months. City streets, creeks, and rivers often flood during the months of November through February. Olympia's yearly snowfall for the 1981–2010 period averaged 7.6 inches (19.3 cm). Olympia averages 49.81 inches (1,270 mm) of precipitation annually and has a year-round average of 75% cloud cover. According to one MSNBC study, Olympia had more rainy days per year on average over the past 30 years than any city in the lower 48 states. With a period of record dating back to 1948, extreme temperatures have ranged from −8 °F (−22 °C) on January 1, 1979, up to 104 °F (40 °C), most recently on July 29, 2009; there are six days annually with temperatures reaching 90 °F (32 °C), 1.8 days where the temperature stays at or below freezing all day and 78 nights where the low reaches the freezing mark.
| Climate data for Olympia, Washington (1981–2010 normals) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °F (°C) | 46.2 (7.9) |
49.6 (9.8) |
54.3 (12.4) |
59.2 (15.1) |
65.6 (18.7) |
70.9 (21.6) |
77.1 (25.1) |
78 (25.6) |
72.2 (22.3) |
60.5 (15.8) |
50.5 (10.3) |
44.5 (6.9) |
60.7 (15.9) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 33 (0.6) |
32.1 (0.1) |
34.4 (1.3) |
37.1 (2.8) |
42.5 (5.8) |
47 (8.3) |
50.2 (10.1) |
49.9 (9.9) |
45.4 (7.4) |
39.9 (4.4) |
35.8 (2.1) |
32 (0) |
39.9 (4.4) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 7.74 (196.6) |
5.27 (133.9) |
5.29 (134.4) |
3.54 (89.9) |
2.33 (59.2) |
1.76 (44.7) |
0.63 (16) |
0.93 (23.6) |
1.71 (43.4) |
4.59 (116.6) |
8.63 (219.2) |
7.40 (188) |
49.81 (1,265.2) |
| Snowfall inches (cm) | 1.4 (3.6) |
3.3 (8.4) |
0.5 (1.3) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.6 (1.5) |
1.7 (4.3) |
7.6 (19.3) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 20.0 | 15.8 | 18.5 | 15.7 | 12.5 | 9.1 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 7.8 | 14.2 | 20.1 | 19.6 | 162.8 |
| Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 4.7 |
| Source: NOAA | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Doug Mah
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