How Much Rain Each Portland Metro and Southwest Washington City Gets, and How Many Days It Falls
Everyone knows it rains here. Fewer people know that Seaside gets nearly twice what Salem gets, that the coast sees rain on more than 200 days a year, or that about half of every city's rain arrives in the four months between November and February. This page puts NOAA's official thirty year averages next to each of the 33 cities VResh serves, because rainfall is the single biggest reason exterior work in this region is different from anywhere else.
43 in
Portland's average annual precipitation, on 154 days a year
95 in
Lincoln City, the wettest city on the list, with 204 wet days
37 in
Hillsboro, the driest, though still on 162 days a year
57%
of Portland's rain falls from November through February
Map: annual precipitation by city
Circle size and color follow annual inches. Click a city for the full figures and the station they come from.
Table: every city, ranked by rainfall
Sort by any column. Wet days are days with at least 0.01 inch; the heavy day columns count half inch and one inch days.
| NOAA station |
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Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991 to 2020, annual and monthly precipitation normals, retrieved September 20, 2026 through the NCEI Access Data Service. Each city uses its nearest normals station; where that station does not report day counts, wet days come from the nearest station that does, and both are named. Distances are from the city center. Download the data as CSV.
What the pattern looks like
The Willamette Valley floor is the dry core of the region: Hillsboro, Salem, Vancouver and Beaverton all land between 37 and 41 inches, on roughly 145 to 160 wet days. Rainfall climbs steadily toward the Cascade foothills, so Gresham and Wood Village pick up several more inches than downtown Portland, Estacada is near 58, and the Bull Run station above Sandy records 78. North of the Columbia the rise is faster, with Battle Ground at 53 inches and Kalama near 67.
The coast is a different climate. Seaside, Long Beach and Lincoln City all see 75 to 95 inches, arrive on more than 180 days a year, and receive far more of it on heavy days: the Otis station near Lincoln City records 27 days a year with an inch or more, against 6 in Beaverton. That volume plus onshore wind is why coastal siding, window flashing and roof edges have a shorter life and why moisture damage there is found behind siding that still looks fine from the street.
Everywhere on the list, November through February carries roughly half the annual total, and July plus August together bring under two inches at every inland station. That is the exterior construction calendar for the region: open a wall in summer, close it before the rain returns.
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Questions about this data
Where do these numbers come from?
All figures are NOAA's official 1991 to 2020 U.S. Climate Normals, the thirty year averages the National Weather Service uses, pulled from the National Centers for Environmental Information data service. Each city is matched to its nearest normals station, and the station and distance are shown so you can judge how well it represents the city. Rainfall varies a lot with elevation and distance from the Coast Range, so a station six miles away in the foothills can read wetter than the city center.
What counts as a wet day?
A day with at least 0.01 inch of precipitation, NOAA's standard threshold. The half inch and one inch columns count heavier days, which are the ones that drive water behind siding and past flashing.
Why does the share of rain from November to February matter for a house?
Those four months deliver roughly half of the year's rain across the region, on short days with little sun. Siding, trim and window openings stay wet for weeks at a time, which is when fungal growth in wood framing does most of its damage. It is also why exterior repairs are easiest to schedule from June through September, when most stations record under two inches for July and August combined.
Does more rain mean more dry rot?
Rain is the supply; the building's details decide whether it becomes damage. Coastal homes in Seaside or Lincoln City see twice Portland's rainfall and wind driven rain on top of it, so unflashed windows and hardboard siding fail faster there. But a Beaverton home with a missing kickout flashing can rot just as badly on 40 inches a year. The rainfall figure tells you how little margin for error the details have.
Can I use this data?
Yes. It is derived from public NOAA data and the CSV is provided below the table. Please credit NOAA NCEI and link to this page.
Rain finds the weak spots. We fix the cause.
VResh Construction repairs dry rot, replaces siding and windows, and rebuilds the flashing details that keep water out, across every city on this map. We diagnose where the water is getting in before we quote the repair.