The holiday weekend is almost here. I’ve written in the past how meteorological summer is June 1 to August 31, so the first day of meteorological fall is upon us! Seasonal fall for the non-science community is from the Summer Solstice to the Autumnal Equinox, which is very late this year at 12:50 PM on September 23rd! (that isn’t a typo). What I would call spiritual summer in Puget Sound goes from July 5 to sometime in October when the machine that runs fall gets turned on. If you’re confused, don’t worry. You can be pessimistic and look at summer being over this weekend, or see the glass half-full and see a few weeks of summer left, or be optimistic and revel in at least six more weeks of decent weather to come.
What about the long weekend?
If you aren’t a native or a long-term resident, you have probably concluded this summer has sucked. You would be wrong; this summer has been utterly average for Puget Sound. This coming Labor Day weekend is more of the same. If you don’t like the heat, you’ll be happy to know that for Kirkland, we’ll see temperatures through the weekend from 77 to 81, depending on where you are. The highest hills and right by the water will be the upper 70s; our Totem Lake hot spot will eek into the 80s.
What about the sun? Well it won’t be very plentiful, but it won’t be shrouded in low clouds either. We’re looking at mostly cloudy days, that will improve in the afternoon. Saturday will be the most overcast day. It will still be warm, but we aren’t going to see much sun.
Rain, that’s the important one, will it rain? Well, maybe. Looking at the weather models individually and the ensemble, there is a 20% to 40% chance of rain hour by hour from Thursday to Monday (Monday is more than 72 hours out so a bit of a dart throw today). Nothing looks like soaking rain, and we’ll likely get a few stray showers tonight (Thursday). If I were to place a bet on the best chance for some morning drizzle or some rain, Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning looks like the best chance (or worse if you do want to view it that way).
As for looking into the crystal ball a bit further, next week when all the kids will be back in school is looking like more of the same. Some AM gloom that burns off and temperature in the 70s. You know, normal.