Anyone who has traveled to Seattle hoping for a sunny day could fairly estimate that it is one of the rainiest states with the highest level of precipitation each year. SimmonsLOCAL variables in SimplyMap include Annual Precipitation data by year, but we can also look at frequency by days of the year. The particular data point shown here represents mean number of days where rain was present out of 365 days, rather than total inches of rain annually.

When we first ran this map, we initially overlooked the small state of Hawaii. It wasn’t until we ran a ranking report that we realized it topped the list.

Creating a ranking report with the SimmonsLOCAL “Mean Number Days of Rain” variable, we found that in 2012, there were 221 days of rain in Hawaii compared to Washington with only 128.

To further understand where the rain falls in Hawaii on a map level, we zoomed in for more exact detail by ZIP code.

The ability to quickly toggle between various maps, rankings and reports is helpful for digesting and analyzing the data. Viewing the data in various formats helps the researcher catch nuances in the data and ensure important details are not missed.