Why do people call central WA, EASTERN WA? (Yakima, Wenatchee: trains, cities)

[Ttark]

It's because they're using the Cascades as the dividing line between "east" and "west", some also use the climate differences between the two not-exactly-halves as an extra differentiator. That's how I was taught, anyways.

If you want to get super-convoluted while we're defining regions of the state along mountain ranges then "western" Washingtax would be the area from the coastal range out westward and "central" WA everything between there and the Cascades and "eastern" from there to the ID border. I don't personally subscribe to this theory and I suppose I'll get trolled and flamed to no end about how wrong I was to even say it but there it is.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by Ttark

It's because they're using the Cascades as the dividing line between "east" and "west", some also use the climate differences between the two not-exactly-halves as an extra differentiator. That's how I was taught, anyways.

If you want to get super-convoluted while we're defining regions of the state along mountain ranges then "western" Washingtax would be the area from the coastal range out westward and "central" WA everything between there and the Cascades and "eastern" from there to the ID border. I don't personally subscribe to this theory and I suppose I'll get trolled and flamed to no end about how wrong I was to even say it but there it is.

I lived in Western WA for about four years after having lived in Eastern WA for my entire life before and after that.

When I first moved over to Western WA, it took me at least a few weeks to realize that when the Seattle weather forecasters were talking about rain on the "Eastside", that they were talking about Bellevue, not Spokane. I couldn't figure out why Spokane had been raining so much that spring...

[elkotronics]

When I first moved over to Western WA, it took me at least a few weeks to realize that when the Seattle weather forecasters were talking about rain on the "Eastside", that they were talking about Bellevue, not Spokane. I couldn't figure out why Spokane had been raining so much that spring...


Yep. That's what Seattle weather-casters do, they refer to Bellevue - Kirkland - Issaquah as the eastside. IIRC, some of the Seattle news stations would report on eastern Washington, too, it just wasn't in very much detail. That whole western Washington area is pretty large in land mass - it provided them with a lot of forecasting to give.

[Ttark]

Now that's funny. Everybody around here I've personally talked to, when they're not talking about eastern Vancouver or outlying Clark County, knows the "east side" generally as Washingtax east of the Cascades.

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by PS90

I lived in Western WA for about four years after having lived in Eastern WA for my entire life before and after that.

When I first moved over to Western WA, it took me at least a few weeks to realize that when the Seattle weather forecasters were talking about rain on the "Eastside", that they were talking about Bellevue, not Spokane. I couldn't figure out why Spokane had been raining so much that spring...

Eastside means east of Lake Washington, not Eastern Washington.

[grega94]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

Interesting that there is no "central" Washington but there is a University of Central Washington. Maybe they should change the name to "Western Eastern Washington University" so nobody is confused.

There is a central Washington, it’s just a subcategory, just like the PNW is a subcategory of the West, or how New England is a subcategory of the Northeast or how the Midwest is divided into upper and lower parts. Plus there isn’t even a well defined boundary for what central WA is even, some even break it up further into north central and south central WA.

[grega94]

Originally Posted by PS90

I completely disagree.

I am sure that I am biased, because I grew up referring to everyone from Western WA as "Coasties", but everything west of the Cascades has the same marine climate. Some places may vary a little in rainfall levels, but everywhere in Western WA is gray, sunless and drizzly. So in the overall scheme of geography/climatic representation, Western WA could be thought of as the "Coast".

On the other hand, Eastern WA varies a lot more than Western WA as far as topography and climate. Central WA is mostly high desert which in the Cascade rain shadow, while Eastern WA gets somewhat more rain than Central WA and ranges from thick temperate forest in the NE to cropland in the SE.

To me, and again, I'm probably biased, but it's much easier to bunch all of Western WA together than it is to bunch all the different parts of Eastern WA together.

Besides, people on the East Coast think of the entire state as being on the West Coast, so maybe we're all Coasties...

There is quite a bit of variation in Western Washington, particularly on the Olympic Peninsula. The hoh Rainforest receives 127.81 inches of precipitation where as Sequim only gets 16.21 inches of precipitation, that is a difference of 111.6 inches and they are only about 40 miles apart.

Also if you remain in Pierce County There is Greenwater at an elevation of only 1,699 ft and it gets 75.6 inches of snow a year with an average low of 26F in January. Tacoma on the other hand gets about 6 inches of snow a year with an average low of 37.1F in January. These two are also only about 40 miles apart.

Then there are places on the Coast such as Neah Bay with an average high of 59.7F in August and Redmond which gets an average high of 80F in August.

[Jay F]

Here in Yakima I actually hear Central more than Eastern Washington. Commercials on TV and radio often refer to Central Washington, much less often to Eastern. I see businesses here with Central Washington in their title, none with Eastern.

[elkotronics]

Oh yeah, it's a bit of a battle with words is all. When I lived in Edmonds, Yakima was in eastern Washington and central Washington. Spokane is all eastern Washington.

[ScottStielow]

The Cascades is the physical dividing line between Eastern and Western Washington.
Overcrowding and COL on the Western side is the main reason for people looking to move Eastern Washington.