Puget Sound region’s summer weather already on its way out
Aug 19, 2019, 6:09 AM | Updated: 3:24 pm
With just two weeks to go in what the National Weather Service describes as “meteorological summer,” warmer weather will soon be making its exit from the Puget Sound region.
Expert: Puget Sound summer weather ‘best in several years’
UW climate scientist Cliff Mass describes an “autumn-like storm” set to make landfall in the Seattle area on Thursday. This occurs as we make a slow descent to fall temperatures, that began over the weekend when highs dropped to 76 degrees. That descent will continue all the way until mid-December.
The descent begins!🍁🍁
Starting today, the average high temperature in #Seattle embarks on a downward trend, going from 76 degrees today to 45 degrees by mid-December.
🍁🍁FALL IS COMING!
— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) August 17, 2019
That march downward in temperatures pairs with an increase of daily probability for at least 0.1 inches of rain, that began around 10 percent on August 1, and closes out the month at 25 percent. By mid-September, that number jumps up over 40 percent.
During the warmer weather the Seattle area has had so far, the NWS says we’ve had just 9 days at or above 85 degrees, fewer than any of the last six summers. The local record for a single summer is 29 days, set last year.
Given how long we had to wait for summer weather to arrive in the first place, some may be disappointed to see it already exiting stage left. The upside, though, has been a marked decrease in wildfire smoke.
Warnings from a handful of state officials early in 2019 predicted a year on par or worse than 2018 for wildfires across Washington. But Mass argued early on that those concerns were likely overblown. In mid-July, it became clear Mass was right.
“The bottom line: after all the scary talk about a dry summer with catastrophic wildfires, it is becoming clear that such an apocalyptic scenario is becoming highly unlikely and you can enjoy the sunny days ahead without worry or concern,” Mass said in a July blog post.
Hopefully, that fact can keep us warm when the region’s weather fails to in the coming weeks.
