If you have a lighter,scrape some gooey curls of Fatwood onto a pj cottonball or tinderquik,& short of a roadflare,this works Very Well,even while you yourself is,Dripping wet! Fatwood also lights fairly easy with a ferro-rod,again using the curl or feather method.A friend of mine carries 2 tubes of rubber cement,& that stuff will light water on fire,you do have to check the tubes frequently as it dries up/ evaporates,rather rapidly once it's been opened.I've seen what a leaking tube can do to a "once beautiful Kifaru pack",So Fatwood is my tried & true answer!

PJ and cotton balls didn't work for me a few years back, as the cotton had become smooshed in my pack and completely saturated with the jelly. It was cold and quite wet out -- it had been raining earlier in the day. After a lot of frustration, (and failing with found natural tinder, which was too damp), I ended up shredding some toilet paper and putting a lighter to it. Lesson learned.

I am surprised that the solution of a big candle and a small Bic hasn't even been raised. This has yet to fail me. But of course it's not terribly chic.

(Though in fairness, the coastal rainforests of the PNW give me deep pause. Everything is a bloody sponge, saturated with rain and fog. I might actually need two candles. Possibly preceded by a whiff of napalm in the morning.)

LOL!

My go to in rain, (Ontario rain, granted, not PNW) is to get a tarp up over the fire pit and then clean out out the fire pit area do it's as dry as possible. Then, if it's really coming down, it's either a birthday candle or tea light, lit with a bic, and then used to ignite a PJ cotton ball and birch bark. Ferro rod and cotton ball are usually my first choice but if everything's soaked, a candle and bic is instantaneous gratification and helps maintain the flame. Esbit tabs are another good solution when kindling is harder to find.

If the fire pit won't stay dry, I put a piece of aluminum foil under the fire so the water puddles underneath it.

An upside down fire also helps.

What do you mean by an upside down fire?

An upsidedown fire is when you put the big stuff on the bottom and build up, gradually moving through fuel, kindling and then put your tinder bundle on top. (With more kindling - your standard loghouse or teepee fire - above that.) The fire will burn down, so that it's essentially self-feeding. Less work when you're cold and wet is a plus in my books.

Here's a youtube video:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=ubPYIl9IFdQ
(Equipped to Endure)

Try this one:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=pjBfzyz-xM8

That's interesting, so have I. TinderQuick is good for catching a flame - and I have a lot in my kits - but it is absolute pants for situations were tinder is damp.
As for Wetfire - its a consumable. Treat it as such.

My experience has been that starting small and drying larger pieces as you go is the best bet. Of course executing this in adverse conditions is the challenging part, as the devil is in the details.

The last time I had to light a fire in a steady rain and I was very impressed by the road flare I used as a fire starter. Having a large flat piece of wood to use as shelter for the initial fire lay helped a lot as well.

Thanks bacpacjac, that clears it up for me. Come to think of it I think I've come across it before but by another name.