6 agricultural, geological, meteorological and historical facts about Washington State

1. The state vegetable is the sweet (Walla Walla) onion.

2. Washington is the largest producer of apples, hops, pears, red raspberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries.

3. The region was originally called Columbia due to the Columbia River, but it was renamed to avoid confusion with the District of Columbia. Instead, it was named Washington in honor of George Washington.

4. There are five active volcanoes in the state: Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Adams. In spite of the fact that Mount Saint Helens is the only one of these five which is actively erupting, Mount Rainier is considered the most dangerous because of its proximity to the Seattle metro area.

5. The western side of the Olympic peninsula receives as much as 160 inches of precipitation each year, so it's a temperate rain forest. In the area east of the Cascades mountains, annual precipitation averages about 6 inches. Forests cover more than half of the state's land area.

6. Washington is second only to California in wine production; however, in spite of the wineries in various communities near Seattle, 99% of the states's wine grapes are grown in the drier eastern portion of the state.