Forks Boasts Of 153.81 Inches Of Rain -- More Than 12 Feet Breaks 1921 Record For Peninsula Town

Forks, you're all wet!

And residents of the water-logged Olympic Peninsula community couldn't be prouder.

The Clallam County town that relishes its reputation as one of the wettest spots in the continental United States has passed a milestone of ponderous proportions for precipitation. Last night at 9 o'clock, the Forks community rain gauge, one of the National Weather Service reporting sites for the area, registered 153.81 inches, topping the old record by 0.02 that was set in 1921.

That's more than 12 feet of rain.

By comparison, Seattle's average annual rainfall is 37.19 inches. As of midnight, Seattle had received 43.99 inches of rain this year. The annual record of 55.14 inches was set in 1950.

Jerry King, who manages a mobile-home park in Forks, tends the community's rain gauge for the National Weather Service.

At 4 p.m. yesterday - the official gauge-reading time - the rainfall stood at 153.21 inches, just over a half-inch from history.

But with a slight drizzle falling and more rain last night, King said the rain gauge, which is in his yard in Forks, registered the record when it was checked at 9 p.m.

While King's rain gauge is one of the collection points on the Olympic Peninsula for the National Weather Service, his measurements are about a third more than the official amount, which is collected at the Quillayute Airport, some 15 miles distant.

The "official" total at midnight was 98.82 inches, according to the weather service.

December's rain total in Forks was 5.95 inches, a low mark by Forks standards. But heavy rainfall earlier in the year set the stage for the record-breaking mark.

"March set a record for months: 29.42," King said.

On March 19 alone, 5.6 inches of rain fell on Forks.

Not surprisingly, ticket sales for this year's Forks Lions Club "Guess the Annual Rainfall" drawing have been unusually brisk. The drawing will be settled at year-end.

But Francis Henneke, manager of the Forks Branch Library who started the contest, is miffed because no one picked yesterday or today.

"I picked . . . Thursday," Henneke said, "only because that's my birthday."

The average annual rainfall in Forks is 117.3 inches.

But lest Forks residents get too cocky, the record would only be a normal year in Ketchikan, Alaska, which averages 155.22 inches of rainfall.

And it's not even close to the rainiest spot in the United States. That honor belongs to Mount Waialeale on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, which gets a whopping 460 inches of rain a year.

But that didn't stop the Forks Chamber of Commerce from issuing a press release yesterday on the impending record. Most communities might downplay things like average rainfall, but not Forks.

The chamber's press announcement carried the message, "Discover Forks, Washington." But it said nothing about bringing scuba gear.

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. It's raining . Rainfall, in inches, for a 24-hour period ending this morning.

. City Rainfall .

. Bellingham 1.07 . Bremerton 2.71 . Forks 1.26 . Hoquiam 1.23 . Olympia 2.25 . Seattle (Sea-Tac) 1.17 . Seattle (Sand Point) 0.75 . Victoria, B.C. 1.86 .