Back to summer sunshine

SEATTLE - Our brief break from our arid August put some summer rain exactly where it was most needed in Western Washington. The Olympic Peninsula which saw dozens of lightning strikes and potential fire starts last Sunday saw a record-setting two inches of rain on Thursday-- and got doused with another inch plus of rain on Friday. Inland today saw significantly less amounts of precipitation and in Seattle, Port Townsend, and Whidbey Island saw no measureable rain at all thanks to the scattered nature of the showers and the rain shadows cast off the Olympic Mountains. 

Our high temps topped out right around 70 for most places around Puget Sound, but we're going to see a return of some sun and as a result warmer temperatures too as we get into the weekend and beyond. Most places will start pretty cloudy on Saturday with overnight showers tapering off almost completely before breakfast. Sunshine returns for just about everyone by the afternoon with some comfortable temps that will end up being just shy of the seasonal norm of 76 for this part of late summer. 

Most places will start pretty cloudy on Saturday with overnight showers tapering off almost completely before breakfast. Sunshine returns for just about everyone by the afternoon with some comfortable temps that will end up being just shy of the seasonal norm of 76 for this part of late summer. 

High pressure builds back in fully by mid-week. So while some of the forecast models are hinting at highs only getting into the upper 70s-- I think we'll end up with a few days that will crack 80 in the middle of the week with sunshine from sunrise to sunset. It does mean keeping up with the watering of the yard and garden, as well as lathering up that sunscreen and practicing fire safety too. 

What a lot of folks will notice, and with only 1 in 3 households around our region with air conditioning, is the comfortable overnight temps in the seasonal and cool 50s. It makes sleeping far more pleasant and can help us embrace the nice afternoons and evenings with the sun still going down past 8p for this week. So far in 2020, we've racked up 34 days of 80 or warmer. An average year only sees about 26 of those warm type of days. Enjoy! -Tim Joyce