The Most Extreme Weather In Washington State's History

The United States has been experiencing some strange and unprecedented weather occurrences over the last decade. Stronger hurricanes, bigger wildfires, unusual snowstorms, and megadroughts are just some of the things Americans had to grapple with.

For example, California's Death Valley recorded one of the highest temperatures on the planet in August 2020: 130 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the same region that holds the world record, which was set in July 1913.

To contextualize these recent weather events, Stacker listed the most extreme temperatures and precipitation in every state's recorded history. Researchers looked at the most recent data from the NOAA's State Climate Extremes Committee.

Here's what they found for Washington state:

• All-time highest temperature: 118° F (Ice Harbor Dam on Aug.5, 1961)
• All-time lowest temperature: -48° F (Winthrop 1 WSW on Dec. 30, 1968)
• All-time highest 24-hour precipitation: 14.26 inches (Mount Mitchell #2 on Nov. 23-24, 1986)
• All-time highest 24-hour snowfall: 65 inches (Crystal Mountain Ski Resort on Feb. 24, 1994)

Stacker also dropped some extra tidbits about how bad the weather got in the Evergreen State:

"Crystal Mountain, the biggest ski resort in Washington State, is located in the Cascade Range, only two hours away from Seattle. After breaking records for the highest snowfall within 24 hours in 1994, the resort was covered in more than 7 feet of snow within a week in February 2019. A full 31.5 inches of snow fell In a single day."

Click here to check out Stacker's full report.