I’m a lifelong Seattle weather enthusiast with a passion for writing about all things weather-related. My interest in weather was born out of the Inauguration Day windstorm that slammed Seattle on the morning of Jan. 20, 1993. Ever since, I’ve been hooked!
Contact information:
Justin Shaw
jdshaw75@gmail.com
Hi Justin, I just discovered your site and will be here often.
Could you find out where we are as far as driest summer (third driest fourth or whatever)? I bet I enjoy reading this stuff as much as you enjoy writing it. Then again, you couldn’t be this good if you didn’t really enjoy it. Make that “almost as much as you enjoy writing it”. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Jay–glad you like the site! I’ll find out where this summer ranks in terms of dryness–great question. (We did have a wetter-than-normal July, but that’s probably been negated pretty well by the extreme dryness around here since August.)
And here’s the answer. If we don’t receive any more precipitation in September, this summer (defined here as the period from July 1-Sept. 30) would finish as the second driest at Sea-Tac Airport since 1948. Since July 1, Sea-Tac has received 1.06 inches of rain–second only to the summer of 1967 in terms of dryness. (The Summer of Love saw just 0.97 inches from July through September–included in that stretch was the hottest month in Seattle history, August 1967.)
Given climatology and the latest long-range models, however, I’d say we have a pretty decent chance of picking up some rainfall by the end of the month. Most models give Seattle a wet day sometime between Sept. 28-30. Even then, we still have a decent chance of finishing among the top five driest summers on record.
Seattle’s Driest Summers* (as measured at Sea-Tac Airport, 1948-present):
1. 1967 (0.97″)
2. 2002 (1.10″)
3. 2003 (1.27″)
4. 1984 (1.31″)
5. 1990 (1.34″)
*July 1-Sept. 30
Just what I was looking for.
Thanx!
How come there is nothing in here about Hurricane Sandy and it’s likely impact on your Uncle and his family?
At the moment, it’s due to pure jealousy. Not that I want you to be without power for a week, but man, you’re going to get to experience a once-in-a-500-year storm. Looks like you won’t get a direct hit, at least–but 8 inches of rain in two days? 60-mph winds for 24 hours? Lucky.
I think you should predict the next Snopocolypse/SNOMG/Snomaggedon…
Thoughts re: Accuweather?
Also: I would like a blog posting on the weather when the Mayan calendar ends (12/21). Thanks
Great idea, Aileen–I wish I could predict one for a day in the not-so-distant future, i.e. Christmas! Unfortunately, Seattle only averages a white Christmas every 14 years–so we’re not due for another one until 2022.
Hello Justin, from a fellow life-long Washington state resident. Been here since 1948. Do you remember the Columbus day storm? And how about that ice storm we had last winter? We do get some weather here!!
Nice blog. Good info. Thank you.
Hi David,
Thanks for visiting the blog–and thanks for your link as well. That’s a great yearly summary of Snohomish County/Western Washington weather! Man, I wish I’d been alive for the Columbus Day Windstorm–the gold standard of all Pacific Northwest windstorms. And yeah, that ice storm in January was incredible. I was talking to a guy at the National Weather Service about that, and he couldn’t recall another time when an Ice Storm Warning was issued for the Seattle area (although December 1996 came close). Our weather can definitely be exciting–as it will be shortly!
Hi there,
I was wondering about precipitation level differences between night and day and how I could find that info for Seattle?
That’s a great question. Try this link from the National Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datasets/PRECIP_HLY/stations/COOP:457473/detail
From there, you can download hourly precipitation data from Sea-Tac Airport (Seattle’s official climate-recording weather station) within a certain date range. The amounts are in hundredths of an inch–and you should be able to plot this stuff on a graph by hour if you want.
Overall, though, there isn’t much of a difference between precipitation during the day and night in the fall and winter. The main difference comes later in spring and summer, when rainfall is more common in the early morning hours thanks to the marine layer.