East of the Cascades is all high desert - really hot summers, really cold winters. As I mentioned more snow. West of the Cascades you don't even get snow every

East of the Cascades is all high desert - really hot summers, really cold winters. As I mentioned more snow. West of the Cascades you don't even get snow every winter - so in Portland and Seattle some winters you get a little snow, some winters you dont get any. In Spokane, Bend, Boise you get a bit of snow, about 10 inch of rain per year (about the same amount of rain as San Diego actually). And yes Olympia will be what youre likely imagining the PNW to be - damn near constantly gray, always wet, lots of evergreens, etc.