At the triangular intersection where Western and Elliott Avenues meet Lenora Street stands a 20-foot-tall umbrella turned inside out. This work of public art by Jim Pridgeon and Benson Shaw turns a full 360 degrees with the direction of the wind. The piece, titled “Angie’s Umbrella,” is a playful reference to Seattle’s famous rain.[1]

In truth, Seattle receives less rainfall in a year than New York City, but the clouds that perpetually hang over Puget Sound give the impression, in one scholar’s words, of a “damp gray blanket.” The city can thank the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges for its weather. The water of the Puget Sound, part of the Salish Sea, pulls clouds and temperate air over Seattle all year round. The clouds linger between the mountains and moderate the city’s temperature, which is why Seattle can be the northernmost major city in the continental United States but still not experience Boston’s harsh winters. The clouds are so ubiquitous, in fact, that local meteorologists have coined the term “sun breaks” to describe the brief periods of sunshine Seattle occasionally receives in the afternoons.[2]

Credits and Sources:

Description by Madison Heslop on behalf of the American Society for Environmental History.

Hackett, Regina. "Rain or Sun, 'Angie's Umbrella' Shines as Public Art." Seattle P-I, July 31, 2003. Accessed August 20, 2016. http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/article/Rain-or-sun-Angie-s-Umbrella-shines-as-public-1120679.php.

Klingle, Matthew. Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Western States Arts Federation. "Angie's Umbrella." Public Art Archive. Accessed August 24, 2016. http://www.publicartarchive.org/work/angies-umbrella.