Olympic Weather and Seasons

Olympic National Park weather is heavily influenced by the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. Olympic may be the most diverse of national park ecosystems, and it has a corresponding wide range of climate conditions. About twelve feet of rain falls each year on the western areas, supporting the temperate rain forest in Hoh, Quinault, and elsewhere. The east side of the mountains are under what is called a rain shadow, with only 25 inches of annual rainfall and much drier conditions overall. The statistics below are taken from the town of Forks, on the park's west side near the Pacific Ocean. It is a fairly accurate representation of the conditions found in Hoh, Sol Duc, and the coastal areas, although Hoh and Sol Duc do receive sometimes heavy snows in the winter. The rain shadow areas have similar temperatures but much lower precipitation.