No rain makes for driest August on record
Aug 31, 2012, 6:20 AM | Updated: 10:16 am
No rain has fallen this month at Sea-Tac Airport and the National Weather Service forecasts none on Friday, setting a record for the driest August.
The forecast Friday is for mostly sunny skies with a high near 70. Saturday will see highs near 73, and Sunday will be mostly sunny with a high near 71.
KING 5’s Rich Marriott says summer temps will continue into next week with highs Tuesday through Friday in the mid 70s to the low 80s.
The Weather Service says the dry stretch in most of Washington is likely to continue into next week.
Forecasters say the last rain at the airport was .04 of an inch on July 22. Friday marks 40 dry days. The record is 51 days.
Records indicate it’s a short-term trend, and there’s no more reason for the dry August than there was for the wet June, said weather service meteorologist Allen Kam.
It’s just the way things go, he said, “Streaks happen.”
The arid stretch is just fine for people heading outdoors for Labor Day weekend. Clouds could lower temperatures and bring a chance of showers in some other areas of the state for the last holiday of the summer, but forecasters don’t see any Seattle storms on the horizon.
“It has a decent chance of lasting into September,” Kam said. “We could certainly be sneaking up on the 51.”
For the calendar year, precipitation in Seattle is about 5 inches above normal, Kam said.
Rain watchers follow the “water year,” which starts Oct. 1. On that calendar, Seattle is just about 1 inch above the average for this time in the year, Kam said.
“That brings it whole heck of a lot closer to normal,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
