NW summer starts to sizzle

SEATTLE - With abundant blue skies and light winds, summer weather kicks into high gear in the next 48 hours in the Pacific NW. A heat advisory for the SW corner of Washington State and the Portland metro begins Sunday morning and extends on Monday into the southern portion of Puget Sound lasting until late Monday evening. 

Temperatures in these areas are expected to get into the mid to low 90s for the next two days. Overnight lows will only settle in the very warm low 60s. The National Weather Service advises that drinking plenty of fluids, staying out of the sun, keeping your house as cool as possible, and making sure kids and pets stay out of hot cars. Heat illnesses like Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke can occur with this type of heat, so it's best to limit strenuous activities to the early morning and later in the evening when temperatures are cooler. It's important to know the symptoms of both Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke. Some are very similar, some signs are quite opposite-- and the difference can be life or death in some circumstances. 

The peak of the coming heat wave for Seatte and the Central Puget Sound looks like it will be on Monday when even more cities and neighborhoods will hit 90 degrees. For some, like SeaTac, it will be the first time we'll see a 90 degree temperature reading so far in 2020. A typical summer season in Seattle has about 4 days of 90 or above temps. For those that don't like the heat-- don't worry, it's a one hit wonder this time around. 

The high pressure ridge that will be baking us in summer heat will ease a bit getting into Tuesday. That will allow some cooler ocean air to work into Western Washington. Instead of the 90s, we'll be in the warm 80s. That weather pattern of brief AM clouds but nice PM sunshine and temps in the low 80s looks to last the rest of the month. The first few days of August look to be a little cooler with a few more morning clouds and temps in the comfortable 70s.

Normal high temperature for late July and early August is 77 degrees. It's our warmest average high temperature all year long. We also have an anniversary coming up on July 29th. It was on this date in 2009 we saw our hottest temperature ever in Seattle of 103 sizzling degrees.