Famed guitarist and songwriter Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle on this date (Nov 27) in 1942.  He bounced between Vancouver, BC and Seattle during his childhood and attended (but did not graduate) from the latter’s Garfield High School.  Influenced by Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley (whom he saw in concert in Seattle), and countless other rock n roll pioneers during his teens, Hendrix perfected his guitar skills and gained famed in the US and Europe.  The Washingtonian’s first major success came at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, but he is perhaps best remembered for his live performance at Woodstock two years later.  He died in London on Sep 18, 1970, and was buried in Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Renton.  His grave has been a shrine of sorts to Seattle musicians ever since.

Though he was famous for his virtuoso skills on the electric guitar during live concerts, Hendrix had several Top 40 hits stemming from three studio albums: Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold As Love (1967), and Electric Ladyland (1969).

JIMI HENDRIX TOP 40 HITS

• Purple Haze (1967)
• The Wind Cries Mary (1967)
• All Along the Watchtower (1968)
• Crosstown Traffic (1968)
• Stepping Stone (1970)
• Voodoo Child (1970)

It seems appropriate to commemorate that intense downpour with a list of rainfall records.  Below are the 24-hour, monthly, and annual records for three cities (one west, one east, and one in between) and the state at large.

As I was compiling the list I couldn’t help noticing that Yakima’s wettest YEAR was barely a half an inch more than Mt Mitchell’s DAY.  Wow!

RECORD RAINFALL IN WASHINGTON STATE

It was the Sounders’ rookie year in the MLS, but not the first season of pro soccer in Seattle.  The original Seattle Sounders played ten seasons in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974-83.  During that time they posted 151 wins, 124 losses, 3 ties –twice earning their way to the league finals.  Here are the win-loss records for those ten seasons.

*earned playoff spot
**played in NASL Championship (1977 lost to New York Cosmos 2-1; 1982 lost to New York Cosmos 1-0)

He already passed Jim Zorn, Seattle’s first quarterback.  Now he’s within striking distance of Dave Krieg’s all-time Seattle Seahawks record.  Will he take the top spot on the list this year?  With seven games left in the season, it’s very possible.

Note: These are Seattle statistics only, and do not include games played for any other team.

QUARTERBACKS WITH THE MOST PASSING YARDS AS A SEATTLE SEAHAWK

There are many ways to measure how busy a library is, including everything from door counts to questions asked.  For today’s list, I’ve chosen circulation — the number of items checked out — as my ruler.  The big  new library in downtown Seattle is tops.  No surprise there.  But some of the other library branches may surprise you.

BUSIEST LIBRARY BRANCHES IN WASHINGTON STATE, 2008

Data source: Preliminary 2008 Washington Public Library Statistical Report, Washington State Library

Drawing from official documents, the Secretary of State’s office compiled the signatures of many of Washington’s territorial and state governors in a tidy list.  Click the image at left to see the autographs as they appear on the original web page.

A few signatures are missing — the last two territorial governors as well as three state governors between 1909-1925 – but that shouldn’t detract from the rest of the collection.  There are clear differences in penmanship and styles among the men and women who have run things in Olympia over the course of 156 years.  And if there’s anything to handwriting analysis, I’d love to hear the interpretation on a few of these politicians.

Although the 42nd state is 120 years old, it is not “old”.  Forty one of the fifty states preceded Washington to statehood, including three the previous week (North Dakota and South Dakota, Nov 2; Montana, Nov 8).  Neighboring Oregon had became a state 30 years earlier.  Delaware, America’s first state, was already close to its 102nd birthday.

Washington is young compared to rest of the union.  Only the eight states listed below are younger.

STATES THAT ENTERED THE UNION AFTER WASHINGTON

Fully 274 of Washington’s towns and cities reside neat and tidy within their county borders.  But seven maverick municipalities crossed the line, strayed beyond the boundaries, and spilled into a second county.  Coulee Dam, in fact, went even further and hopped into a third county.

In the Google Earth image at right, Coulee Dam can be seen in Okanogan County (right), Douglas County (top left), and Grant County (bottom left).  That’s the Columbia River dividing the west and east halves, and the Grand Coulee Dam at the bottom of the picture.  A fourth county (Lincoln) is less than a mile south of the dam.

WASHINGTON TOWNS AND CITIES IN MORE THAN ONE COUNTY

So how wet can Seattle get in a single day?  Oh, I remember it well!  October 20, 2003, was a drencher.  The rain came down in torrents, overwhelming the drainage ditches in my neighborhoods and the storm drains elsewhere already clogged with fallen leaves.  Five inches of rain that day obliterated a 44 year old 24-hour record.  To put that in perspective, five inches is about one seventh the annual norm!

Here are the 16 wettest days in Seattle history, each collecting more than two and a half inches or rain.

SEATTLE DAYS WITH THE GREATEST PRECIPITATION

WASHINGTON STATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, 2008-2009

*Preliminary data
Source: U.S. Department of Labor