May’s record-setting warmth foreshadows dry summer
Jun 6, 2018, 11:08 AM
(Matt Pitman/KIRO Radio)
(Matt Pitman/KIRO Radio)
We experienced the warmest May on record in Seattle as well as one of the driest. According to the National Weather Service, that was just the beginning.
RELATED: A ‘categorical shift’ in Western Washington wildfire season
The average temperature in the Lower 48 states was 65.4 degrees during May, according to federal data released Wednesday. That broke the record average of 64.7 set back in 1934.
In total, weather stations across the country tied or broke more than 8,500 daily records throughout the month.
Jake Crouch with NOAA’s Centers for Environmental Information told The Associated Press overall warming from climate change is partly to blame for the unusual heat.
According to the AP, April was cool because of a jet stream that pushed polar air south. That pattern changed in May. A tropical system and subtropical storm brought warmer moisture to the east while the West Coast stayed dry.
The summer in Washington is likely to be warmer and drier than normal as well, according to the Weather Service. We have as much as a 50-60 percent chance to be warmer, and 30-50 percent chance to be drier.
RELATED: Wildfire burns through Hanford nuclear complex
In Seattle, we have a nearly 50 percent chance to see temperatures above normal between June and August, according to the latest NOAA data.
The summer outlook may be a prime example of why state officials are increasing their attention on Western Washington during wildfire season. Aaron Schmidt with the Department of Natural Resources explained recently: “Historically, Western Washington has had really benign fire activity. In the last five years, that’s been a categorical shift. So much so that we are staging three helicopters in Western Washington this year.”
Schmidt points out Western Washington is seeing more large fires in the southwest and northwest points of the state.
Last year, wildfires from Washington to Montana and Canada to Oregon resulted in weeks of poor air quality for our region. Hundreds of thousands of acres of Washington land burned.
HISTORY: Fires devastated Seattle, Ellensburg and Spokane in 1889
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