Move over, May 14. The hottest day of the year now belongs to July 8.
Strong summer sunshine, coupled with a massive ridge of high pressure to our east, allowed Seattle to warm to 83 degrees today—the hottest temperature seen this year. The previous record of 80 degrees, held for nearly two months by May 14 (and tied yesterday) is officially no more—as is our ten-month stretch of temperatures at or below the 80-degree mark.
The hot weather will continue into this evening, with temperatures gradually slipping into the mid 70s by sunset. Around the same time, scattered thunderstorms will begin firing in the Cascades as monsoonal moisture moves north from Oregon. Thanks to lower pressure off the coast, any thunderstorms that do form are likely to drift west—instead of the usual easterly direction—into foothill towns like Enumclaw and North Bend.
For the rest of the Seattle area, it’ll be another mild and dry night (any thunderstorms should peter out well east of Lake Washington), with temperatures not dipping below 60 degrees until midnight. Monday will dawn warm and partly sunny, with highs again reaching the lower to mid 80s.
A thicker layer of clouds pushes in from the coast on Tuesday, leading to a gray and cooler morning. The sun will eventually break through, with the cloud cover burning off by early afternoon. The cool start, however, will ensure that high temperatures don’t make it much past 75 degrees—the normal high for this time of year.
Above normal temperatures return Wednesday and Thursday, with highs inching past 80 degrees, before a weak system passing by to the north knocks us back into the low 70s on Friday. Clouds will also be on the increase as the workweek wraps up, with gray skies spilling over into the first part of the weekend.
Hey, at least there’s no rain in the forecast.
