IMHO wet and damp are talking about where wiring, devices, or equiment are located. Not what protects them.
Mike,
The Article 100 Definition of
wet location uses the word "location" as part of the two word term, so, yes "wet and damp are talking about where wiring, devices, or equiment are located."
Location, Wet. Installations underground or in concrete slabs or masonry in direct contact with the earth; in locations subject to saturation with water or other liquids, such as vehicle washing areas; and in unprotected locations exposed to weather.
But, pay attention to the placement of the semi colons in the definition.
The "middle" location, i.e., "locations subject to saturation . . ." is a seperate part, or, the second of three items in a list of items
defined as wet locations.
The third item in the list, i.e., "
unprotected locations exposed to weather" stands alone by virtue of the semi colon, and is, therefore, unmodified by the language in the second item ("locations subject to saturation . . .").
A conduit on the outside of a structure that
is in a unprotected location exposed to weather is simply and utterly defined as a wet location. Nothing softens that definition, in the definition.
Whether the weather is desert baking dry or rain forest dripping wet has nothing to do with the definition, as both climate conditions are "weather".
The Article 100 Definition of "Location, Wet" forces the OP installation to be defined as "wet", for the length of conduit outside, unprotected and exposed to weather.