Annual rainfall may not tell you much about how the life there is. I lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, which has about the same annual rainfall as Seattle.

However, Guadalajara has a dry season for about seven months a year in which just about every day is sunny and warm. During its wet season (summer) the weather is also warm and mostly sunny, but in late afternoon or at night it will cloud up and pour rain torrentially for an hour or two, flooding the streets. So the climate is great, but it is sometimes impossible to cross the street without getting soaked halfway up to your knees.

Seattle, on the other hand, is more of a constant drizzle or mist, thus keeping it lushly green and gorgeous, but kind of cold and depressing.