How do you spell relief? O-C-E-A-N A-I-R
SEATTLE - There, that's much better.
A day after the region sweltered in the temperatures approaching 100 (or in Shelton's case, actually hitting 100), the more familiar marine breeze picked up overnight and temperatures are down to the more familiar 70s and low 80s.
Our heat of the past few days was greatly aided by a thermal trough, which acts like a heat line of sorts -- if you're on the west side, you get a cool, west wind, while on the east side, you get a hot, east wind. All of Western Washington had been on the east side for Tuesday and Wednesday.
It was exacerbated more by having a very hot air mass move in from the Desert Southwest. This was pretty much the "perfect storm" of heat -- the east winds were about as strong as they get, and the air was about as warm as it can get. Goes to show why it's only hit 100 here once -- even with this maximum heat scenario for this area, we still "only" got to 98.
(Although for one squirrel, 98 seemed hot enough)
Photo By: Sandy Roquet
But that trough raced inland Wednesday evening and night, and the results were dramatic as it passed and the wind shifted nearly 180 degrees to a strong west/southwest wind.
For some people, that meant a 20-40 degree drop in temperature in just a few hours.
Here's some of the amazing temperature drops from Wednesday:
Just imagine being in Shelton, and heading out for the evening for maybe dinner and a movie at 4 when it's 100, and then stepping out of the theater at 10 and wishing you had brought a jacket along.
How Hot Did We Get Wednesday?
We set many records Wednesday, including Bellingham, who tied the all-time high temperature record at 94. Seattle's 98 degrees was tied for the fourth-hottest day in Sea-Tac Airport's history.
For those still looking, here's the high temperatures for Wednesday:
Yes. We no longer have that warming east wind. The air mass itself is still pretty warm -- sort of like how when the toaster turns off, it's still hot for a while -- and that will allow temperatures to run a few degrees warmer than it normally would under similar circumstances, but high temperatures today are pegged to be more in the upper 70s/low 80s.
We do have an added wrinkle though -- thunderstorms. We have some moist, unstable air moving in from the south, and combined with the leftover heat, that is a recipe for some thunderstorms to develop late this evening and overnight. They will be widely scattered, but don't be surprised to hear some thunder. That will also make it a little more muggy than usual around here too.
The thunderstorms could linger until about midday Friday and then they will push off to the east and out of our hair.
The weekend is fairly pretty nice, weather-wise -- and we sure have earned it. Saturday in particular, which will start with morning clouds and then have afternoon sunshine with highs in the mid-upper 70s.
Sunday will be a bit cloudier, with perhaps a few showers along the north coast and north interior in the morning, but dry everywhere else.
Long range models keep us in the 70s next week. That is, much better!
A day after the region sweltered in the temperatures approaching 100 (or in Shelton's case, actually hitting 100), the more familiar marine breeze picked up overnight and temperatures are down to the more familiar 70s and low 80s.
Our heat of the past few days was greatly aided by a thermal trough, which acts like a heat line of sorts -- if you're on the west side, you get a cool, west wind, while on the east side, you get a hot, east wind. All of Western Washington had been on the east side for Tuesday and Wednesday.
It was exacerbated more by having a very hot air mass move in from the Desert Southwest. This was pretty much the "perfect storm" of heat -- the east winds were about as strong as they get, and the air was about as warm as it can get. Goes to show why it's only hit 100 here once -- even with this maximum heat scenario for this area, we still "only" got to 98.
(Although for one squirrel, 98 seemed hot enough)
Photo By: Sandy Roquet
But that trough raced inland Wednesday evening and night, and the results were dramatic as it passed and the wind shifted nearly 180 degrees to a strong west/southwest wind.
For some people, that meant a 20-40 degree drop in temperature in just a few hours.
Here's some of the amazing temperature drops from Wednesday:
- Hoquiam: From 83 to 65 in less than one hour
- Forks: From 78 to 63 in two hours
- Olympia: From 98 to 65 in six hours
- Tacoma: From 93 to 76 in two hours
- Seattle: From 90 to 74 in two hours.
- Friday Harbor: From 91 to 75 in two hours
- Bremerton: From 97 to 66 in four hours
- Port Angeles: From 91 to 72 in one hour, and to 64 in two hours. (Quick story -- my parents live there and my Dad has a home weather station and called me last night to report the wind had shifted and the temperature was dropping -- about 0.3 degrees per 8 seconds at that time. When he called, they were at 80. By the time we hung up a few minutes later, it was down to 75. It was like watching the stock market on Black Monday.)
Just imagine being in Shelton, and heading out for the evening for maybe dinner and a movie at 4 when it's 100, and then stepping out of the theater at 10 and wishing you had brought a jacket along.
How Hot Did We Get Wednesday?
We set many records Wednesday, including Bellingham, who tied the all-time high temperature record at 94. Seattle's 98 degrees was tied for the fourth-hottest day in Sea-Tac Airport's history.
For those still looking, here's the high temperatures for Wednesday:
- Shelton: 100
- Bremerton: 99
- Olympia: 99 (Daily record high)
- Bellevue: 98
- Seattle: 98 (Daily record high, ties fourth warmest day recorded)
- Renton: 96
- Tacoma: 95
- Friday Harbor: 95 (Don't know, but that has to be an all-time record for them)
- Seattle (Boeing): 95
- Bellingham: 94 (Ties all-time record high)
- Port Angeles: 93
- Arlington: 93
- Gig Harbor: 91
- Everett: 90
Yes. We no longer have that warming east wind. The air mass itself is still pretty warm -- sort of like how when the toaster turns off, it's still hot for a while -- and that will allow temperatures to run a few degrees warmer than it normally would under similar circumstances, but high temperatures today are pegged to be more in the upper 70s/low 80s.
We do have an added wrinkle though -- thunderstorms. We have some moist, unstable air moving in from the south, and combined with the leftover heat, that is a recipe for some thunderstorms to develop late this evening and overnight. They will be widely scattered, but don't be surprised to hear some thunder. That will also make it a little more muggy than usual around here too.
The thunderstorms could linger until about midday Friday and then they will push off to the east and out of our hair.
The weekend is fairly pretty nice, weather-wise -- and we sure have earned it. Saturday in particular, which will start with morning clouds and then have afternoon sunshine with highs in the mid-upper 70s.
Sunday will be a bit cloudier, with perhaps a few showers along the north coast and north interior in the morning, but dry everywhere else.
Long range models keep us in the 70s next week. That is, much better!
