It hasn’t happened since the final summer of Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency, but in ten days, history could at long last repeat itself.
Seattle, as measured at Sea-Tac Airport, could notch its first dry July since 1960—and just its third dry July overall.
Got rain, anyone?
Current weather models predict Seattle will stay dry for the remainder of July, leaving the airport with no measurable rain whatsoever this month (just a trace has fallen at Sea-Tac since the 1st—not enough to officially count). If this pans out, July 2013 would tie July 1960 and July 1958 as the driest July in the history of Sea-Tac Airport—where records date back to 1945. In addition, the month would become just the sixth on record without measurable precipitation—joining the ranks of last August, September 1991, September 1975 and the two Julys.
Already, with just a trace of rain to its name, July 2013 is off to the driest start of any July at the airport since 1991, when it took until the 24th of the month for measurable rain to sneak into the gauge. We’ll almost certainly beat that mark by the end of the day on Wednesday, with Seattle’s only shot of moisture this week some light drizzle tomorrow morning, as the marine layer trudges back in for an encore. Even if we do manage to eke out some raindrops from the clouds early Monday—an outside chance to begin with—it’s very unlikely that they’ll pile up enough to meet the .01-inch threshold required for measurable precipitation.
Once the a.m. gray yields to the p.m. blue—the changing of the guard should take place in the early afternoon—we’ll see temperatures climb back to their late-July norms, topping out in the mid to upper 70s.
We ditch the cloud cover in time for Tuesday, allowing us to warm up right out of the gate. Highs should top the mid 70s by noon, peaking in the low 80s as the evening commute gets underway.
The pattern repeats itself for Wednesday…Thursday…Friday…and Saturday, with generally clear mornings leading to a string of 80-degree afternoons. Slightly cooler temperatures are possibly next Sunday into the final days of July, but any rain looks unlikely at this point.
As do the odds of this month not being one for the record books.
