Try asking this guy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Welcome to THE DESERT NORTHWEST!

For the record, no, it won't grow here. It's too bad nurseries aren't carrying a hardier species of Opuntia instead.

Thank you both.
I got an Opuntia santa rita but not tubac (I hope it's different) from an eBay seller that says it should survive 0F so we'll see.

You can get fully hardy prickly pears from small local growers like Desert Northwest and Colvos Creek. There is a even a species that is native to parts of western WA, in addition to the ones that grow wild in much colder climates in the intermountain region and eastern US.

A friend near Kent, WA has a cactus collection, instead of a lawn leading up to his front door. At one time he was growing over 80 kinds.

Thanks bboy. I'll look into that.

80 kinds, wow! Well, I don't like cactus that much:-) I had a spot where there is no shade, relatively dry, and the ground isn't fertile so I thought that would be perfect.

I tried a form or 'santa rita' last year in a pot.For the winter I put it in the garage in a window,the main pad collapsed,but I was able to root the remaining pads.

I've had trouble getting any form of Opuntia santa-rita or O. chlorotica (which is closely related) to survive in our climate, no matter how far cold and wet of an area it was collected from. I think they are generally more difficult to maintain here than most of the hardy Opuntias. I even had a collection of O. chlorotica from 6,000' just below the Mongollon Rim in central Arizona that didn't make it. I'm not giving up yet, though.