East of the cascades we are in a rain shadow so a lot of weather gets blocked by the mountains. I wouldn't call it high desert though ... one because it is technically not desert, and two it is geographically not high in elevation. It is common to get 100+ in summer and 10F in winter. The humidity is low so the heat doesn't feel as bad as humid places. Because of the rain shadow average snowfall is only about 10 in here in the Columbia basin where I live (the lowest and hottest part of the state) but more snow the further north you go. We brag about 300 days with sunshine here, though probably not all day on some of those days lol. The overcast times generally do not produce rain. We do occasionally get some pretty good winds that knock down trees and power lines but nothing close to tornado level. I find it blessedly free from natural disaster risks.