Did anybody else know this about Washington State? Seriously big culture shock when I traveled here and nobody prepared me for this.

[meganfoxwannabe67]

I just explored the Bavarian town of Leavenworth. 2 hours away from Seattle .I head East for a couple of hours to continue my roadtrip.

and noticed suddenly I'm in a desert. I feel I'm back in El Paso. I continue and it gets more arid. My confused self wonders if I travelled to Kansas accidentally but turns out more than half the State of Washington is actually arid/desertic. Yo wtf?? I went to WA to escape the heat in Texas and see fall foliage and then I land into this. I like deserts so no complaining just really shocked.

[DaveJord]

You didn't know that basically half the state east of the cascades is high plains desert?

In Washinton its the Yakima Desert, in California it's the Mojavi Desert. In Nevada it's the Great Basin, Mojavi Desert, and the Central Oregon high desert turns into the Yakima Desert.

They do not really teach geography in schools anymore, so you have to take a personal interest.

Yeah, I am from California I knew that. Same for Arizona, Neveda, Oregan and Washington. Anything east of the Serria Nevada and Cascades Mountains is desert... until you hit the foothills of the Rockys in Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and parts of New Mexico.

As far as the Bavarian towns there are some in California, Wisconsin, Washinton, Colorado... they are scattered around so that no news to me. I knew Washington had some, but I could not name them off the top of my head.

[strateguy632]

desert much less than half, green rain forest covers almost all Washington state at

[DaveJord]

@strateguy632 Almost but not quite.

[abc3643]

@strateguy632 Nice chart. Where did you find that?

[MrOracle]

Most of Oregon and Washington is high desert, continuing from Nevada and Utah - only the coastal region is the wooded "Pacific Northwest" that most people think of.

The reason so many people don't realize this is because the major cities are all along the coast, and so that's where most of the people live and so it's what you're likely to see on any newscast or any movie or TV show set in those states.

[strateguy632]

not most see my reply to dave. most is forest and grass.

[Sharkstealth]

You went South East instead of North and West. We are located in the middle of the Cascades. There are lots of high mountains here. You most likely went through Snoqualmie pass which during the winter months can be quite deadly from the steepness of the road.

[AviatorTom]

I never realized that part of Washington State is desert. I've never been there, and I've always seen pictures of the state showing forests or mountains, and comments about how rainy Seattle is. Thanks for enlightening me... and others.

[strateguy632]

geography in school focused on country and capitals so i didn't know around a 6th 1/6 of wa. and around a quarter of oregon is desert.

see my reply to dave.

[DarkWinterNights]

Yeah I found out a number of years ago that Oregon is the same way. I thought my coworker was messing with me.

[Likes2drive]

Never really thought about it but it seems normal when you’re far from the coast that it would be like that

[exitseven]

I never knew that.

[WhiteBoyChill]

I wasn’t aware of that Bavarian town you mention, however I did know prior much of the state is desert

[Anonymous]

Yep, it's just the coastal area that is green. Same with Oregon.

[OlderAndWiser]

It's news to me!

[QuietRunner]

yes I knew that