I've definitely seen a few "pouring rainstorms" this year where I'm at in the PNW. If you live in the Seattle area you're actually in the rain shadow of the Olympics, but when you get to about Mountlake Terrace to just south of Everett you're in a convergence zone and get all the weather that diverted around the northern half of the Olympics, so you can get a crazy amount of water there. I've also seen a LOT of rain just touring the Olympic coast(The Hoh rainforest is the wettest forest in the US), and also out on the San Juan islands and in the Bellingham area.

I've also been day hiking after work and gotten more than a few heavy rains. One of which almost gave me hypothermia because it snuck up on me while I was in the woods on top of something during one of those drizzles you're referring to.