I notice you're from Sterling, I used to live in the factory house there at the old Great Western Sugar Company. It's been a few years (1973-ish, I was in kindergarten at Sexton Elem?), we moved out to Iliff 1/2 way through, and then to Ft Collins a couple years after that.
Eastern WA is very similar climate to what you've got there, except less tornado warnings and blizzards. Western WA is rain and more rain followed by periods of rain.