G'day heric,

"If your on the East Coast, don't you need to be on the West Coast here?"

No - east coast climate is east coast climate - weather moves the same direct all round the globe. Differences between hemispheres are only a mirror image 'North - South'... not 'East - West'. West coasts receive rain clouds most of the time ... but mountains in between them and the East Coast tend to strip them of rain. East Coasts do get rain, when local systems swing it back in ... or when there is so much rain it falls right across the country ... and that's a long way in Australia (about the same distance as it is across the contiguous states of USA).

An interesting comparison of West to East climates is found in islands with mountains in the centre. Tasmania, where I have lived in past decades, has 10 times the rainfall on the mid-West Coast compared to its mid-East Coast. (Similar observation of parts of New Zealand - 5 metres West and 500 mm directly East.)

Regards,

Bob