Geography and Climate
Olympia is located at 47°2′33″N 122°53′35″W / 47.0425°N 122.89306°W / 47.0425; -122.89306 (47.042418, -122.893077).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.5 square miles (48 km2), of which, 16.7 square miles (43 km2) of it is land and 1.8 square miles (4.7 km2) of it (9.77%) 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.
The climate of Olympia is 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 and December are Olympia's rainiest months. City streets, creeks, and rivers often flood during the months of November through February. Olympia averages 50.8 inches (1,290 mm) of precipitation per year 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.
Snow for the 1971-2000 period averaged 14.7 inches (37.3 cm), but the median was much lower, at 4.3 inches (10.9 cm).
| Climate data for Olympia, Washington | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °F (°C) | 44.4 (6.9) |
48.3 (9.1) |
53.0 (11.7) |
58.2 (14.6) |
64.6 (18.1) |
70.0 (21.1) |
76.1 (24.5) |
77.0 (25.0) |
71.7 (22.1) |
60.4 (15.8) |
49.6 (9.8) |
43.8 (6.6) |
59.8 (15.4) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 31.8 (−0.1) |
32.6 (0.3) |
34.1 (1.2) |
36.5 (2.5) |
42.0 (5.6) |
46.4 (8.0) |
49.6 (9.8) |
49.5 (9.7) |
44.9 (7.2) |
38.9 (3.8) |
35.3 (1.8) |
32.1 (0.1) |
39.5 (4.2) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 7.54 (191.5) |
6.17 (156.7) |
5.29 (134.4) |
3.58 (90.9) |
2.27 (57.7) |
1.78 (45.2) |
0.82 (20.8) |
1.10 (27.9) |
2.03 (51.6) |
4.19 (106.4) |
8.13 (206.5) |
7.89 (200.4) |
50.79 (1,290.1) |
| Snowfall inches (cm) | 4.3 (10.9) |
4.0 (10.2) |
1.0 (2.5) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
1.5 (3.8) |
3.8 (9.7) |
14.7 (37.3) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 19.4 | 17.7 | 18.1 | 15.1 | 12.5 | 9.2 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 8.4 | 13.0 | 20.1 | 20.8 | 164.9 |
| Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 2.1 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 8.4 |
| Source: NOAA | |||||||||||||
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