Here it comes, Dear Reader - our next topic. Fasten your seatbelts and hold onto your lattes, 37 Questions About Seattle starts right now!


1. Does it rain all the time in Seattle? I hear it's the rainiest city in the United States. Are you ready for it, Dear Reader? The revelation of all revelations, the secret Seattlites DO NOT want you to know?




























Are you sure?













I'm telling you, Dear Reader, this is big. Really big. Knock-off-your-cashmere-socks big. If you need to get a snack or use the restroom, now's the time. I'll wait.








Okay, here we go.



No, it does NOT rain all the time in Seattle. Seattle does not have the record for city rainfall. That dubious distinction belongs, surprisingly, to Mobile, Alabama. Shocked? Get this - Seattle is not in the top ten. It's not in the top 20. It's not even in the top 40 rainiest cities in the U.S.

It's the 41st.


As I know you are a clever one, Dear Reader, I know you are thinking, "Well, Seattle must have MORE days of significant rain, and be the rainiest city THAT way".

It truly breaks my heart to tell you this, but you are wrong. Not even in the top three. We rank #5 on the list of most days of 0.25"+ rainfall.

It's not your fault! Don't blame yourself. This is a myth perpetrated by Seattlites to keep more people from moving here. We happily nod our heads and agree when you ask if it rains a lot here, although you may here the qualifier "Nowhere is more beautiful than Seattle in the summertime". This is true, and summer is tourist season. We want and need you to come and visit. We just don't want you to stay.

So we tell you stories about how lucky you are to have come now, how just last week, Dear Reader, it rained nearly every day and you sure don't want to be here during winter - you know, September to mid-June?

We are selfish. We want to keep it to ourselves. Native Seattlites like myself are the worst of the bunch, but transplants do it too. They come, they stay, and they get drunk on the sweet, sweet liquor that is Washington in any season. We are so lucky to live in one of the most beautiful areas of the world, and although it has many gray days and the occasional earthquake, we are more than repaid in the trees, water, and mountains that surround us.

That's our dirty secret, Dear Reader. Please stay tuned for 36 more questions about Seattle. If you don't hear from me soon, it's likely an ardent keeper-of-the-secret has found me and made off with me, to take out in flesh the punishment I deserve for revealing the truth to you. Please know, I did it all for you. Every last one of you. You deserved to know the truth.