Tag Archives: weather report

Health and Lifestyle, Local

Sun, Smoke, and Showers loom as dry streak extends to day 45

[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) Another heat dome is building in the southwest bringing extreme heat to the western states, with a bump in temperatures for Western Washington coming. The Kirkland-Bellevue- Woodinville area will see nothing like what we had at the end of June, and we are in an era where a 90-degree day in the summer is a “new normal.”

Friday will see our region tickle 90 degrees in the hot spots such as Kingsgate, Totem Lake, and the urban canyons of downtown Bellevue. Cooler spots like Finn Hill, the Houghton Highlands, and right on Lake Washington will be around 88 degrees. East of the Cascades will be much hotter. Spokane is under an Excessive Heat Warning with a high today of 100, 103 on Friday, and 105 on Saturday.

The offshore flow that will start tomorrow will also carry with it smoke from fires burning outside of Winthrop, Washington, and British Columbia. Additionally, the circulation around the high pressure system will pull the smoke up from Oregon. There is nothing in the models to indicate the air quality will get chew or reach dangerous levels, in Western Washington, but unhealthy air is possible for the lowlands on Saturday.

Sunday will cool down due to a combination of events including vertically integrated smoke holding the temperature down, a shift to an onshore flow, and the heat dome moving westward. However, this will also pump moisture into the region making it feel sticky and adding a chance for showers and thunderstorms. The chances are slim right now, and it would require storms to drift off of the Cascades westward into the lowlands.

At 45 days, the dry streak at SeaTac Airport (KSEA) currently sits at 45 days. It seems safe to say at this point that July 2021 will tie July 2017 as the driest month in Seattle history, with just a trace of rain. However, the dry streak has a chance of ending on Sunday. The bad news for firefighters and our parched eastern half of the state is lightning is literally the last thing they need.

The long range forecast shows a growing chance for rain showers through most of next week. There is nothing definite, but I wouldn’t bet against our record streak of 55 dry days in a row falling next week. All it takes is .01 inches of rain at SeaTac Airport to end the streak.

Weather

It rained so the dry streak is over! Not exactly

[Seatac, Wash] – (MTN) Our tip line blew up this morning with reports of very light rain from Renton to Everett moving through the area. The marine layer that pushed in overnight made it almost to the Cascade crest, with low clouds all the way to Skykomish. But, as of this writing, the dry streak continues.

No rain has fallen into the rain gauge at the National Weather Service Office at SeaTac International Airport, so for now, rainfall for today is 0.00. It has been 36 days since measurable rain has fallen at the airport, where weather records are kept.

The showers and drizzle moving through the region are very light, barely being picked up by radar, and not enough to move the needle on the ongoing dry conditions.

The longest dry streak in Seattle history was 55 days and happened in 2017. During that dry streak, it rained very lightly on July 27 through many areas of the Puget Sound lowlands, but officially not at SeaTac, which got a trace of rain. July 2017 was the driest month in Seattle history and even if the rain had fallen in the gauge, it is likely it would have remained the driest month in Seattle history.

If SeaTac Airport gets 0.01 inches of rain, the dry streak will end, but that doesn’t seem likely with the marine layer starting to pull back. There is another chance for some mist, drizzle, or light rain showers tomorrow, but I wouldn’t bet money on it.

Breaking News, Local, Weather

‘Never seen data like this before’ – Seattle prepares for the unimaginable

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[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Seattle officials gathered to outline the city’s planned response for the historic heatwave that will bake our region in the coming days. The city has activated the Emergency Operations Center and is working on a multiagency response to protect vulnerable residents of the area.

The National Weather Service issued an Excessive Heat Warning this afternoon, effective from 2 PM Friday to 9 PM Monday. Forecasters stated in today’s press conference, “we have never seen data like this before.” Forecast models indicate that Monday could soar to 108 degrees, which would shatter the all-time record high set in 2009.

A 24-hour emergency shelter will be opened at the Fisher Pavilion, which can accommodate up to 73 people and will be managed by the Salvation Army. The city is scrambling to open as many libraries as possible but is struggling with staffing the locations. The plan calls to have 7 libraries, including the Central Library downtown, open on Saturday, 5 on Sunday, and 3 on Monday. Later in the week, the city hopes to have 6 to 10 libraries open daily. An exact list will be available on the Seattle Public Library website.

Seattle’s Senior Centers have been closed due to COVID. The city is working to open the Greenwood, Pike Place, West Seattle, Southeast Seattle, Central Area, and Wallingford Community Senior Centers. People are advised to call ahead to confirm hours for each day. The city already started distributing fans to vulnerable seniors earlier this week.

The Lake City Community Center will be open from 9 AM to 6 PM and will have evaporative coolers to provide some comfort in the non-airconditioned facility. The International District Community Center will also be open from 2 PM to 8 PM for cooling.

Seattle City Parks and Recreation will have 8 of the 9 area beaches open starting on Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM. The only beach closure is East Greenlake, but West Greenlake will be open. A spokesperson stated the reason for the closure was due to staffing. Additionally, the city is reopening indoor and outdoor pools, wading pools, and spray parks to the public. The 11 wading pools and six spray pools will be open from noon to 7 PM. The city’s two indoor pools and two outdoor pools will be open following their normal schedule before COVID closed the facilities down. Mayor Durkan stated that 100 public drinking fountains are now operational in the city, and they are working around the clock to turn and fix as many as possible.

Seattle City Parks also asked parents to test surface temperatures of playground equipment and surfaces to make sure they are not too hot. A spokesperson stated it could be possible to get burns.

The Seattle Fire Department has suspended training for the weekend to provide the maximum staff level and will distribute water to the public from 9 AM to 6 PM. Both Health One units will be operating over the weekend. COVID testing and vaccination sites will operate as planned, including the planned pop-up vaccination centers at Seattle Pride on 11th a the corner of Cal Anderson Park from 1 PM to 5 PM on Saturday. The HOPE Team will be performing welfare checks on the elderly and the unhomed.

Seattle City Light believes that the electrical grid will not be overwhelmed with this heat event, with peak usage typically in the wintertime. A spokesperson indicated that historically the highest demand used 75% of capacity, and summertime demand typically peaks at 50%. They will be monitoring for any possible wildfires that could threaten transmission rights of way. Finally, all planned outages for maintenance this weekend have been canceled.

The city has canceled all planned road projects this weekend (state projects may still go forward) and will be spraying bridges with water to prevent them from warping or the surfaces buckling due to the heat.

Employers who have people work outside or in non-airconditioned facilities were urged to allow workers to take frequent breaks in cool or shaded areas and have drinking water available.