Upon moving here nearly a third of a century ago, it was instantly apparent that this is a place where health and happiness are tied to appreciating the outdoors. These spectacular lands and waters never get old — providing a person takes every opportunity to experience them.

When it comes to spending time outside, I believe in the old truism: There’s no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. If you allow rain and wind to get in your way, you’ll soon get cabin fever. In the past 12 months of walking on the south peninsula’s world-class trail system, my young dog and I have logged enough miles to get from here to St. Louis — Lewis and Clark’s expedition base camp.

This is a main reason why I and the Chinook Observer spend lots of time thinking about meteorology and reporting on it. Last week, we took a dive into NOAA’s wonderful dataset that tracks Washington state temperatures, precipitation and other climatic milestones back nearly 130 years. (See tinyurl.com/6th-driest-May)

It looks likely that June will also be among our driest in recorded history, with just 14/100ths of an inch of rain recorded so far at WSU’s Pioneer Road weather station through June 18. (I think it was a bit wetter at my house above Baker Bay, with maybe a quarter-inch on Sunday.) This is shaping up to be an early and long wildfire season.

It may take more time to figure out than you want to take, but if you’re a weather nut like me, spend awhile exploring www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance. (Digesting information and making it available to you is one of our professional duties.)

Thanks as always for supporting the Chinook Observer, a community project that aims to make local life better for everyone.