Washington

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Transportation

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Washington has the largest ferry system in the United States.

Floating bridges on Lake Washington.

Washington has a system of state highways, called State Routes, as well as an extensive ferry system which is the largest in the nation^[96] and the third largest in the world. There are 140 public airfields in Washington, including 16 state airports owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) is the major commercial airport of greater Seattle.^[97] Boeing Field in Seattle is one of the busiest primary non-hub airports in the US.^[98] The unique geography of Washington creates exceptional transportation challenges.^{[citation needed]}
There are extensive waterways in the midst of Washington's largest cites, including Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and Olympia. The state highways incorporate an extensive network of bridges and the largest ferry system in the United States to serve transportation needs in the Puget Sound area. Washington's marine highway constitutes a fleet of twenty-eight ferries that navigate Puget Sound and its inland waterways to 20 different ports of call, completing close to 147,000 sailings each year. Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge over Lake Washington, and the Hood Canal Bridge which connects the Olympic Peninsula and Kitsap Peninsula. Washington has a number of seaports on the Pacific Ocean, including Seattle, Tacoma, Kalama, Anacortes, Vancouver, Longview, Greys County, Olympia, and Port Angeles.
The Cascade Mountain Range also provides unique transportation challenges. Washington operates and maintains roads over seven major mountain passes and eight minor passes. During winter months some of these passes are plowed, sanded, and kept safe with avalanche control. Not all are able to stay open through the winter. The North Cascades Highway, State Route 20, closes every year. This is because the extraordinary amount of snowfall and frequency of avalanches in the area of Washington Pass make it unsafe in the winter months. The Cayuse and Chinook Passes east of Mount Rainier also close in winter.
Washington is crossed by a number of freight railroads, and Amtrak's passenger Cascade route between Eugene, Oregon and Vancouver, BC is the eighth busiest Amtrak service in the USA and one of the few profitable routes in the system. Public transportation has generally lagged, although the much-delayed link light rail system in the greater Seattle region opened its first line in 2002. Residents of Vancouver have resisted proposals to extend Portland's mass transit system into Washington.^{[citation needed]}

Environment

In 2007, Washington became the first state in the nation to target all forms of highly toxic brominated flame retardants known as PBDEs for elimination from the many common household products in which they are used. A 2004 study of 40 mothers from Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Montana found PBDEs in the breast milk of every woman tested.
Three recent studies by the Washington Department of Ecology showed that toxic chemicals banned decades ago continue to linger in the environment and concentrate in the food chain. In one of the studies, state government scientists found unacceptable levels of toxic substances in 93 samples of freshwater fish collected from 45 sites. The toxic substances included PCBs; dioxins, two chlorinated pesticides, DDE and dieldrin, and PBDEs. As a result of the study, the department will investigate the sources of PCBs in the Wenatchee River, where unhealthy levels of PCBs were found in mountain whitefish. Based on the 2007 information and a previous 2004 Ecology study, the Washington State Department of Health is advising the public not to eat mountain whitefish from the Wenatchee River from Leavenworth downstream to where the river joins the Columbia, due to unhealthy levels of PCBs. Study results also indicated high levels of contaminants in fish tissue that scientists collected from Lake Washington and the Spokane River, where fish consumption advisories are already in effect.^[99]
On March 27, 2006, Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law the recently approved House Bill 2322. This bill would limit phosphorus content in dishwashing detergents statewide to 0.5 percent over the next six years. Though the ban would be effective statewide in 2010, it would take place in Whatcom County, Spokane County, and Clark County in 2008.^[100] A recent discovery had linked high contents of phosphorus in water to a boom in algae population. An invasive amount of algae in bodies of water would eventually lead to a variety of excess ecological and technological issues.^[101]

Economy

Main article: Economy of Washington (state)

Microsoft Corporation headquarters in Redmond, an Eastside suburb of Seattle.

The 2014 total gross state product for Washington was $425.017 billion, placing it 14th in the nation.^[80] The per capita GDP in 2009 was $52,403, 10th in the nation. Significant business within the state include the design and manufacture of aircraft (Boeing), automotive (Paccar), computer software development (Microsoft, Bungie, Amazon.com, Nintendo of America, Valve Corporation, ArenaNet), telecom (T-Mobile USA), electronics, biotechnology, aluminum production, lumber and wood products (Weyerhaeuser), mining, beverages (Starbucks, Jones Soda), real estate (John L. Scott, Colliers International, Windermere Real Estate, Kidder Mathews), retail (Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Car Toys, Costco, R.E.I.), and tourism (Alaska Airlines, Expedia, Inc.). A Fortune magazine survey of the top 20 Most Admired Companies in the US has four Washington-based companies: Amazon.com, Starbucks, Microsoft, and Costco.^[81] The state has significant amounts of hydroelectric power generation at over 80%. Also, significant amounts of trade with Asia pass through the ports of the Puget Sound leading to a number 6 ranking of US ports (ranking combines Twenty-foot Equivalent Units moved and Infrastructure index).^[82]
With the passage of Initiative 1183, the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) ended its monopoly of all-state liquor store and liquor distribution operations on June 1, 2012.
Among its resident billionaires, Washington boasts Bill Gates, technology advisor and former Chairman & CEO of Microsoft, who, with a net worth of $84.1 billion, is the wealthiest man in the world as of 2013.^[83] Other Washington state billionaires include Paul Allen (Microsoft), Steve Ballmer (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Craig McCaw (McCaw Cellular Communications), James Jannard (Oakley), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), and Charles Simonyi (Microsoft).^[84]
As of January 2015, the state's unemployment rate is 6.3 percent.^[85]

Taxes

Starbucks Headquarters, Seattle.

The state of Washington is one of only seven states that does not levy a personal income tax. The state does not collect a corporate income tax or franchise tax either. However, Washington businesses are responsible for various other state levies, including the business and occupation tax (B & O), a gross receipts tax which charges varying rates for different types of businesses.
Washington's state base sales tax is 6.5 percent which is combined with a local rate. As of April 2014, the rate is 9.5 percent in Seattle and other cities.^[86] These taxes apply to services as well as products.^[87] Most foods are exempt from sales tax; however, prepared foods, dietary supplements and soft drinks remain taxable. The combined state and local retail sales tax rates increase the taxes paid by consumers, depending on the variable local sales tax rates, generally between 8 and 9 percent.^[86]
An excise tax applies to certain select products such as gasoline, cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages. Property tax was the first tax levied in the state of Washington and its collection accounts for about 30 percent of Washington's total state and local revenue. It continues to be the most important revenue source for public schools, fire protection, libraries, parks and recreation, and other special purpose districts.
All real property and personal property is subject to tax unless specifically exempted by law. Personal property also is taxed, although most personal property owned by individuals is exempt. Personal property tax applies to personal property used when conducting business or to other personal property not exempt by law. All property taxes are paid to the county treasurer's office where the property is located. Washington does not impose a tax on intangible assets such as bank accounts, stocks or bonds. Neither does the state assess any tax on retirement income earned and received from another state. Washington does not collect inheritance taxes; however, the estate tax is decoupled from the federal estate tax laws, and therefore the state imposes its own estate tax.
Washington's tax policy differs significantly from neighboring Oregon's, which levies no sales tax but a very high income tax. This leads to border economic anomalies in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Additional border economies exist with neighboring Canada and Idaho.

Agriculture

Azwell, Washington, a small community of pickers' cabins and apple orchards.

Washington is a leading agricultural state. (The following figures are from the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Washington Field Office.) For 2013, the total value of Washington's agricultural products was $10.2 billion. In 2013, Washington ranked first in the nation in production of red raspberries (92.7 percent of total U.S. production), hops (79.2 percent), spearmint oil (72.9 percent), wrinkled seed peas (60 percent), apples (57 percent), sweet cherries (50.9 percent), pears (49.5 percent), Concord grapes (36.5 percent), carrots for processing (36.5 percent), green peas for processing (34.4 percent), and peppermint oil (31.4 percent).
Washington also ranked second in the nation in production of fall potatoes (a quarter of the nation's production), nectarines, apricots, grapes (all varieties taken together), sweet corn for processing (a quarter of the nation's production), and summer onions (a fifth of the nation's production).
The apple industry is of particular importance to Washington. Because of the favorable climate of dry, warm summers and cold winters of central Washington, the state has led the U.S. in apple production since the 1920s.^[88] Two areas account for the vast majority of the state's apple crop: the Wenatchee–Okanogan region (comprising Chelan, Okanogan, Douglas, and Grant counties), and the Yakima region (comprising Yakima, Benton and Kittitas counties).^[89]

Areas of concentration

While the population of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest is scarce overall, they are mostly concentrated in the South End and Central District areas of Seattle, and in inner Tacoma.^[67] The black community of Seattle developed during and after World War II when wartime industries and the U.S. Armed Forces employed and recruited tens of thousands of African Americans from the Southeastern United States. They moved west in the second wave of the Great Migration left a high influence in West Coast rock music and R&B and soul in the 1960s, including Seattle native Jimi Hendrix, a pioneer in hard rock, who was of African American and Cherokee Indian descent.
American Indians lived on Indian reservations or jurisdictory lands such as the Colville Indian Reservation, Makah, Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, Quinault (tribe), Salish people, Spokane Indian Reservation, and Yakama Indian Reservation. The westernmost and Pacific coasts have primarily American Indian communities, such as the Chinook, Lummi, and Salish. But Urban Indian communities formed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs relocation programs in Seattle since the end of World War II brought a variety of Native American peoples to this diverse metropolis. The city was named for Chief Seattle in the very early 1850s when European Americans settled the sound.

Chinese New Year, Seattle, 2011

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are mostly concentrated in the Seattle−Tacoma metropolitan area of the state. Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond, which are all located within King County, have sizable Chinese communities (including Taiwanese), as well as significant Indian and Japanese communities. The Chinatown-International District in Seattle has a historical Chinese population dating back to the 1860s, who mainly emigrated from Guangdong Province in southern China, and is home to a diverse East and Southeast Asian community. Koreans are heavily concentrated in the suburban cities of Federal Way and Auburn to the south and in Lynnwood to the north. Tacoma is home to thousands of Cambodians, and has one of the largest Cambodian-American communities in the United States, along with Long Beach, California and Lowell, Massachusetts.^[68] The Vietnamese and Filipino populations of Washington are mostly concentrated within the Seattle metropolitan area.^[69] Washington state has the second highest percentage of Pacific Islander people in the mainland U.S. (behind Utah); the Seattle-Tacoma area is home to over 15,000 people of Samoan ancestry, who mainly reside in southeast Seattle, Tacoma, Federal Way, and in SeaTac.^[70]^[71]
The most numerous (ethnic, not racial, group) are Latinos at 11%, as Mexican Americans formed a large ethnic group in the Chehalis Valley, farming areas of Yakima Valley and Eastern Washington. In the late 20th century, large-scale Mexican immigration and other Latinos settled in the southern suburbs of Seattle with limited concentrations in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties during the region's real estate construction booms in the 1980s and 1990s.
Additionally, Washington has a large Ethiopian community, with many Eritrean residents as well.^[72] Over 30,000 Somali immigrants also reside in the Seattle area.^{[citation needed]}

Cities and towns

Languages

**Top 10 Non-English Languages Spoken in Washington**
Language	Percentage of population (as of 2010)^[75]
Spanish	7.79%
Chinese (including Cantonese and Mandarin)	1.19%
Vietnamese	0.94%
Tagalog	0.84%
Korean	0.83%
Russian	0.80%
German	0.55%
Japanese	0.39%
French	0.33%
Ukrainian	0.27%

In 2010, 82.51% (5,060,313) of Washington residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 7.79% (477,566) spoke Spanish, 1.19% (72,552) Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin), 0.94% (57,895) Vietnamese, 0.84% (51,301) Tagalog, 0.83% (50,757) Korean, 0.80% (49,282) Russian, and German was spoken as a main language by 0.55% (33,744) of the population over the age of five. In total, 17.49% (1,073,002) of Washington's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.^[75]

Religion

Further information: Pacific Northwest § Spirituality and religion

Major religious affiliations of the people of Washington are:^[76]

Christian: 60%
- Evangelical Protestant: 25%
- Mainline Protestant: 14%
- Catholic: 17%
- Mormon: 4%
Unaffiliated: 32%
Jewish: 1%
Hinduism: 1.0%
Muslim: 0.5%
Other religions 3%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Roman Catholic Church with 784,332; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) with 282,356;^[77] and the Assemblies of God with 125,005.^[78]
Aquarian Tabernacle Church is the largest Wiccan church in the country.^[79]
As with many other Western states, the percentage of Washington's population identifying themselves as "non-religious" is higher than the national average. The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is one of the highest in the United States.

Demographics

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Washington was 7,170,351 on July 1, 2015, a 6.63% increase since the 2010 United States Census.^[52] The state ranks 13th overall in population, and the third most populous (after California and Texas) west of the Mississippi River.^[57]
According to the United States Census, in 2010, Washington had an estimated population of 6,724,540, which was an increase of 445,811 or 6.63 percent from the year 2010.^[53] This includes a natural increase of 380,400 people, and an increase from net migration of 450,019 people into the state. Washington ranks first in the Pacific Northwest region in terms of population, followed by Oregon, and Idaho. In 1980, the Census Bureau reported Washington's population as 90% non-Hispanic white.^[58]
In 2011, 44.3% of Washington's population younger than age 1 were minorities.^[59]
The center of population of Washington in 2000 was located in an unpopulated part of the Cascade Mountains in rural eastern King County, southeast of North Bend, northeast of Enumclaw and west of Snoqualmie Pass.^[60]
At the 2010 U.S. census, the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metropolitan Area's population was 3,439,809, approximately half the state's total population.^[61]
6.7 percent of Washington's population was reported as under five years of age, 25.7 percent under 18 years of age, and 11.2 percent were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 50.2 percent of the population.
The largest European ancestry groups (which the Census defines as not including racial terms) in the state are:^[62]

20.7% German
12.6% Irish
12.3% English
8.2% Hispanic
6.2% Norwegian
3.9% French
3.9% American
3.8% Italian
3.6% Swedish
3.3% Scottish
2.5% Scotch Irish
2.5% Dutch
1.9% Polish
1.8% Russian

In addition, 3.6% are African American.

Race and ethnicity

According to the 2010 United States census, the racial and ethnic composition of Washington was the following:^[53]^[63]

White: 77.3% (Non-Hispanic Whites 71%, White Hispanics 6.3%)
Black or African American: 3.6%
Native Americans: 1.5%
Asian: 7.2%
Pacific Islander: 0.4% (0.2% Samoan, 0.1% Guamanian, 0.1% Hawaiian)
Two or more races: 4.7%
Other races 5.1%

Hispanic or Latino (any race): 11.2%.

**Washington Racial Breakdown of Population**
[hide]Racial composition	1990^[58]	2000^[64]	2010^[65]
White	88.5%	81.8%	77.3%
Asian	4.3%	5.5%	7.2%
Black	3.1%	3.2%	3.6%
Native	1.7%	1.6%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander	–	0.4%	0.6%
Other race	2.4%	3.9%	5.2%
Two or more races	–	3.6%	4.7%

The Hispanic/Latino population can belong to any of the racial groups. In Washington state it consists of people of mainly Mexican (8.9%), Spanish (0.4%), Cuban (0.4%), Salvadoran (0.2%), Guatemalan (0.1%), and Colombian (0.1%) heritage.
According to 2010 United States Census estimates, 77% of Washingtonians identified as white or European American. This includes people born in Western Europe, Canada, Australasia, and the former USSR, and also people from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. (The number of Arab Americans of various national origins rose dramatically in the 1990s and 2000s).^[66]

History

Main article: History of Washington (state)

Early history

A farm and barren hills near Riverside, in north central Washington.

The skeletal remains of Kennewick Man, one of the oldest and most complete human remains ever found in North America, were discovered in Washington.^[45] Before the coming of Europeans, the region had many established tribes of aboriginal Americans, notable for their totem poles and their ornately carved canoes and masks. Prominent among their industries were salmon fishing and, notably among the Makah, whale hunting. The peoples of the Interior had a very different subsistence-based culture based on hunting, food-gathering and some forms of agriculture, as well as a dependency on salmon from the Columbia and its tributaries. The smallpox epidemic of the 1770s devastated the Native American population.^[46]

European exploration

The first recorded European landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775, on board the Santiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora. He claimed all the coastal lands up to Prince William Sound for Spain as part of their claimed rights under the Treaty of Tordesillas, which they maintained made the Pacific a "Spanish lake" and all its shores part of the Spanish Empire.
In 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook sighted Cape Flattery, at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but Cook did not realize the strait existed. It was not discovered until Charles William Barkley, captain of the Imperial Eagle, sighted it in 1787. The straits were further explored by Spanish explorers Manuel Quimper in 1790 and Francisco de Eliza in 1791, and British explorer George Vancouver in 1792.

Settlement

The British-Spanish Nootka Convention of 1790 ended Spanish claims of exclusivity and opened the Northwest Coast to explorers and traders from other nations, most notably Britain and Russia as well as the fledgling United States. American captain Robert Gray (for whom Grays Harbor County is named) then discovered the mouth of the Columbia River. He named the river after his ship, the Columbia. Beginning in 1792, Gray established trade in sea otter pelts. The Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the state on October 10, 1805.
Explorer David Thompson, on his voyage down the Columbia River camped at the confluence with the Snake River on July 9, 1811, and erected a pole and a notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site.

Fur trading at Fort Nez Percés in 1841

Britain and the United States agreed to what has since been described as "joint occupancy" of lands west of the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean as part of the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, which established the 49th Parallel as the international boundary west from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. Resolution of the territorial and treaty issues, west to the Pacific, were deferred until a later time. Spain, in 1819, ceded their rights north of the 42nd Parallel to the United States, although these rights did not include possession.
Negotiations with Great Britain over the next few decades failed to settle upon a compromise boundary and the Oregon boundary dispute was highly contested between Britain and the United States. Disputed joint-occupancy by Britain and the U.S. lasted for several decades. With American settlers pouring into Oregon Country, Hudson's Bay Company, which had previously discouraged settlement because it conflicted with the fur trade, reversed its position in an attempt to maintain British control of the Columbia District.
Fur trapper James Sinclair, on orders from Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, led some 200 settlers from the Red River Colony west in 1841 to settle on Hudson Bay Company farms near Fort Vancouver. The party crossed the Rockies into the Columbia Valley, near present-day Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, then traveled south-west down the Kootenai River and Columbia River. Despite such efforts, Britain eventually ceded all claims to land south of the 49th parallel to the United States in the Oregon Treaty on June 15, 1846.
In 1836, a group of missionaries including Marcus Whitman established several missions and Whitman's own settlement Waiilatpu, in what is now southeastern Washington state, near present day Walla Walla County, in territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez Perce Indian tribes. Whitman's settlement would in 1843 help the Oregon Trail, the overland emigration route to the west, get established for thousands of emigrants in following decades. Marcus provided medical care for the Native Americans, but when Indian patients – lacking immunity to new, 'European' diseases – died in striking numbers, while at the same time many white patients recovered, they held 'medicine man' Marcus Whitman personally responsible, and murdered Whitman and twelve other white settlers in the Whitman massacre in 1847. This event triggered the Cayuse War between settlers and Indians.
Fort Nisqually, a farm and trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company and the first European settlement in the Puget Sound area, was founded in 1833. Black pioneer George Washington Bush and his Caucasian wife, Isabella James Bush, from Missouri and Tennessee, respectively, led four white families into the territory and founded New Market, now Tumwater, in 1846. They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon's discriminatory settlement laws.^[47] After them, many more settlers, migrating overland along the Oregon trail, wandered north to settle in the Puget Sound area.

Statehood

Temperatures

The average annual temperature ranges from 51 °F (11 °C) on the Pacific coast to 40 °F (4 °C) in the northeast. The lowest temperature recorded in the state was −48 °F (−44 °C) in Winthrop and Mazama. The highest recorded temperature in the state was 118 °F (48 °C) at Ice Harbor Dam. Both records were set east of the Cascades. Western Washington is known for its mild climate, considerable fog, frequent cloud cover and long-lasting drizzles in the winter, and warm, temperate summers. The Eastern region occasionally experiences extreme climate. Arctic cold fronts in the winter and heat waves in the summer are not uncommon. In the Western region, temperatures have reached as high as 112 °F (44 °C) in Marietta-Alderwood.^[19]^{[not in citation given]} and as low as −20 °F (−29 °C) in Longview.^[20]^{[not in citation given]}

[hide]Climate data for Washington State (1895-2015)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	74 (23)	83 (28)	95 (35)	103 (39)	107 (42)	113 (45)	118 (48)	118 (48)	111 (44)	99 (37)	83 (28)	74 (23)	118 (48)
Mean maximum °F (°C)	60 (16)	64 (18)	73 (23)	86 (30)	94 (34)	102 (39)	109 (43)	106 (41)	98 (37)	84 (29)	67 (19)	60 (16)	112 (44)
Average high °F (°C)	34.8 (1.6)	40.6 (4.8)	47.7 (8.7)	55.9 (13.3)	63.6 (17.6)	69.9 (21.1)	78.0 (25.6)	77.3 (25.2)	69.4 (20.8)	57.2 (14)	43.2 (6.2)	36.2 (2.3)	56.15 (13.43)
Average low °F (°C)	23.0 (−5)	26.0 (−3.3)	29.6 (−1.3)	34.2 (1.2)	40.1 (4.5)	45.7 (7.6)	50.5 (10.3)	50.0 (10)	44.7 (7.1)	37.2 (2.9)	29.9 (−1.2)	25.3 (−3.7)	36.35 (2.42)
Mean minimum °F (°C)	−19 (−28)	−8 (−22)	−2 (−19)	14 (−10)	21 (−6)	26 (−3)	31 (−1)	31 (−1)	24 (−4)	16 (−9)	2 (−17)	−8 (−22)	−20 (−29)
Record low °F (°C)	−42 (−41)	−40 (−40)	−25 (−32)	−7 (−22)	11 (−12)	20 (−7)	22 (−6)	20 (−7)	11 (−12)	−5 (−21)	−29 (−34)	−48 (−44)	−48 (−44)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	6.08 (154.4)	4.61 (117.1)	4.23 (107.4)	2.87 (72.9)	2.31 (58.7)	1.89 (48)	0.85 (21.6)	1.02 (25.9)	1.93 (49)	3.67 (93.2)	6.22 (158)	6.52 (165.6)	42.2 (1,071.8)
Source #1: "Office of the Washington State Climatologist". OWSC. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
Source #2: "Comparative Data for the Western States.". WRCC. Retrieved July 27, 2016.

Bellingham Ephrata Forks Paradise Richland Seattle Spokane Vancouver Winthrop Yakima

Average daily high and low temperatures in °F (°C)
in cities and other locations in Washington
colored and sortable by average temperature
Place	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Bellingham^[21]	48 / 36 (9 / 2)	50 / 36 (10 / 2)	54 / 39 (12 / 4)	59 / 42 (15 / 6)	64 / 47 (18 / 8)	69 / 51 (21 / 11)	73 / 54 (23 / 12)	74 / 54 (23 / 12)	68 / 50 (20 / 10)	59 / 45 (15 / 7)	51 / 39 (11 / 4)	46 / 35 (8 / 2)
Ephrata^[22]	35 / 22 (2 / −6)	43 / 26 (6 / −3)	54 / 32 (12 / 0)	63 / 38 (17 / 3)	72 / 46 (22 / 8)	80 / 54 (27 / 12)	88 / 60 (31 / 16)	87 / 59 (31 / 15)	78 / 50 (26 / 10)	62 / 39 (17 / 4)	45 / 29 (7 / −2)	34 / 21 (1 / −6)
Forks^[23]	47 / 36 (8 / 2)	49 / 35 (9 / 2)	51 / 37 (11 / 3)	55 / 39 (13 / 4)	60 / 43 (16 / 6)	63 / 48 (17 / 9)	67 / 51 (19 / 11)	69 / 51 (21 / 11)	66 / 47 (19 / 8)	58 / 42 (14 / 6)	50 / 38 (10 / 3)	46 / 35 (8 / 2)
Paradise^[24]	35 / 23 (2 / −5)	36 / 22 (2 / −6)	38 / 24 (3 / −4)	42 / 26 (6 / −3)	49 / 32 (9 / 0)	55 / 36 (13 / 2)	63 / 43 (17 / 6)	65 / 44 (18 / 7)	58 / 40 (14 / 4)	48 / 33 (9 / 1)	37 / 25 (3 / −4)	34 / 21 (1 / −6)
Richland^[25]	41 / 29 (5 / −2)	47 / 30 (8 / −1)	58 / 35 (14 / 2)	65 / 41 (18 / 5)	73 / 48 (23 / 9)	80 / 54 (27 / 12)	88 / 59 (31 / 15)	88 / 58 (31 / 14)	78 / 50 (26 / 10)	64 / 40 (18 / 4)	49 / 34 (9 / 1)	38 / 27 (3 / −3)
Seattle^[26]	47 / 37 (8 / 3)	50 / 37 (10 / 3)	54 / 39 (12 / 4)	59 / 42 (15 / 6)	65 / 47 (18 / 8)	70 / 52 (21 / 11)	76 / 56 (24 / 13)	76 / 56 (24 / 13)	71 / 52 (22 / 11)	60 / 46 (16 / 8)	51 / 40 (11 / 4)	46 / 36 (8 / 2)
Spokane^[27]	35 / 24 (2 / −4)	40 / 25 (4 / −4)	49 / 31 (9 / −1)	57 / 36 (14 / 2)	67 / 43 (19 / 6)	74 / 50 (23 / 10)	83 / 55 (28 / 13)	83 / 55 (28 / 13)	73 / 46 (23 / 8)	58 / 36 (14 / 2)	42 / 29 (6 / −2)	32 / 22 (0 / −6)
Vancouver^[28]	47 / 33 (8 / 1)	51 / 33 (11 / 1)	56 / 37 (13 / 3)	60 / 40 (16 / 4)	67 / 45 (19 / 7)	72 / 50 (22 / 10)	78 / 54 (26 / 12)	79 / 53 (26 / 12)	75 / 48 (24 / 9)	63 / 41 (17 / 5)	52 / 37 (11 / 3)	46 / 32 (8 / 0)
Winthrop^[29]	31 / 15 (−1 / −9)	39 / 18 (4 / −8)	51 / 26 (11 / −3)	62 / 32 (17 / 0)	71 / 40 (22 / 4)	78 / 46 (26 / 8)	86 / 50 (30 / 10)	86 / 49 (30 / 9)	78 / 41 (26 / 5)	62 / 32 (17 / 0)	42 / 25 (6 / −4)	29 / 14 (−2 / −10)
Yakima^[30]	39 / 23 (4 / −5)	46 / 26 (8 / −3)	56 / 30 (13 / −1)	64 / 34 (18 / 1)	72 / 42 (22 / 6)	80 / 48 (27 / 9)	88 / 53 (31 / 12)	87 / 52 (31 / 11)	78 / 44 (26 / 7)	64 / 34 (18 / 1)	48 / 27 (9 / −3)	36 / 21 (2 / −6)

Flora and fauna

Black-tailed deer graze at Deer Park in Olympic National Park

Forests cover 52% of the state's land area, mostly west of the North Cascades. Approximately two-thirds of Washington's forested area is publicly owned, including 64% of federal land.^[31] Other common trees and plants in the region are camassia, Douglas fir, hemlock, penstemon, ponderosa pine, western red cedar, and many species of ferns.^[32] The state's various areas of wilderness offer sanctuary, with substantially large populations of shorebirds and marine mammals. The Pacific shore surrounding the San Juan Islands are heavily inhabited with killer, gray and humpback whales.^[33]
Mammals native to the state include the bat, black bear, bobcat, cougar, coyote, deer, elk, gray wolf, moose, mountain beaver, muskrat, opossum, pocket gopher, raccoon, river otter, skunk, and tree squirrel.^[34] Because of the wide range of geography, the State of Washington is home to several different ecoregions which allow for a varied range of bird species. This range includes raptors, shorebirds, woodland birds, grassland birds, ducks, and others.^[35] There have also been a large number of species introduced to Washington, dating back to the early 1700s, including horses and burros.^[36] The channel catfish, lamprey, and sturgeon are among the 400 known freshwater fishes.^[37]^[38] Along with the Cascades frog, there are several forms of snakes that define the most prominent reptiles and amphibians.^[39]^[40] Coastal bays and islands are often inhabited by plentiful amounts of shellfish and whales. There are five species of salmon that ascend the Western Washington area, from streams to spawn.^[33]
Washington has a variety of National Park Service units. Among these are the Alta Lake State Park, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, as well as three national parks, the Olympic National Park, North Cascades National Park and Mount Rainier National Park.^[41] The three national parks were established between 1899 and 1968. Almost 95% (876,517 acres, 354,714 hectares, 3,547.14 square kilometers) of Olympic National Park's area has been designated as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System.^[42] Additionally, there are 143 state parks and 9 national forests, run by the Washington State Park System and the United States Forest Service.^[43] The Okanogan National Forest is the largest national forest located on the West Coast, encompassing 1,499,023 acres (606,633 ha). It is managed together as the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest, encompassing a considerablely larger area of around 3,239,404 acres (1,310,940 ha).^[44]

v t e Largest cities or towns in Washington Source:^[73]
	Rank		County	Pop.
Seattle Spokane	1	Seattle	King	684,451	Tacoma Vancouver
	2	Spokane	Spokane	213,272
	3	Tacoma	Pierce	207,948
	4	Vancouver	Clark	172,860
	5	Bellevue	King	139,820
	6	Kent	King	126,952
	7	Everett	Snohomish	108,010
	8	Renton	King	100,242
	9	Federal Way	King	95,171
	10	Spokane Valley	Spokane	94,919