Rainfall in Newport vs. Lincoln City (Coos Bay, Astoria: retirement, station, rated)

[waltbreen]

Hi, all. For some reason, all sources I've located on the net list Lincoln City as having 20-30' more rain than any of ther surrounding communities (up to 98" for Lincoln City vs. 65-75 " for Florence, Newport, and Astoria). In the past, I've written to the American Meteorological Society for puzzles like this, and occasionally they've answered, but no luck this time. Is it really possible that it rains 20" more in Lincoln City than in Newport, or is there some difference in the topography between the two that causes the difference? Or is the measuring station for Lincoln City substantially inland for some reason (perhaps a long-standing weather station there)? I'm looking carefully at hese two towns for retirement, and I'm thrilled that there is so much discussion at CityData, but I still haven't seen this issue addressed. Thanks!

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

You have to look at exactly where the weather recording station is located. The area of greatest rainfall is typically not along the immediate coast, but on the windward flanks of the Coast Range a few miles inland where clouds have to shed some of their moisture to get past the mountains.

I don't think there is a NOAA recording station in Lincoln City itself. The weather data you're looking at is probably collected at Otis which is 3 or 4 miles inland. Still, 20" of variation is not that much. As you go north of Newport you're getting more into the north coast, which gets more rain than the central coast. Tillamook gets about 90" of rain a year, Seaside about 76". It just varies with the way the mountains meet the sea. In some areas the clouds drop their moisture gradually over a wide area. In other spots, geographic features force them to do so in over a more concentrated territory.

[waltbreen]

Thanks, Brenda! Your explanation confirms what I expected. Never did hear back from the AMS this time. I'm flying into Coos Bay on 10/4, then either driving or busing my way up to Newport and Lincoln City. Really looking forward to exploring and finding my retirement place.