Yeah ok, so the title might be a little dramatic, but I’m sure when the heat actually arrives (I’m a little past IF the heat arrives, and I’ll tell you why in a moment) it won’t seem dramatic enough (why do I have the feeling I’m still being dramatic about this?)
Clearly most of my readers are divided on the concept of long range forecasting with 41% of you believing that it is possible and 35% of you believing it is a waste of time. The other 24% are neutral about it. But for the past week or so, long range models have been hinting at quite an impressive streak of not warm, not hot, but steamy weather to flood into the Northwest mid-late week next week, perhaps breaking 100 degrees for several consecutive days in Southwest Washington/Northern Oregon in and around the Portland metro area.
What this heatwave would mean for the Kitsap area is still hard to pinpoint precisely, but according to the most recent long range trends, low to mid 90s look possible for most portions of the area with upper 90s/low 100s possible in the Cascade foothills. Now of course, this is the result of taking these models at face value.
What is most impressive about this possible (leaning on “likely”) heatwave is not so much the heat itself, but the length of the spell. The reason why I love Washington summers so much is because heatwaves are typically very short in nature here, lasting no more than 5 days if that. According to the models, this heatwave could last well over a week.
In July 2006, we experienced a pretty impressive heatwave for Western Washington standards with 4 straight days in the mid to upper 90s with overnight lows close to 70 degrees. I remember that well. Bremerton almost hit 100 degrees on Friday, July 21st with a high of 98 degrees and a low of 66. It was very uncomfortable!
Anyway, if you’ve been waiting for some decent summer weather you may get your wish in a little over a week. I’ll keep you updated on how things look for the heatwave every day. Still a lot can change, but summer time patterns aren’t quite as eratic as winter patterns, so if this were a lottery you’d have a much better chance at scoring some dough with this one.
Have a fanastic evening and stay tuned!
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
7 DAY FORECAST
5 DAY FUTURE-CAST (LONG RANGE OUTLOOK)
Yes!
oh sh** our fire dept sucks up here !!
According to the MSN weather forcast it looks like the mid 70’s for the middle of next week
http://weather.msn.com/tenday.aspx?wealocations=wc:USWA0395&q=Seattle%2c+WA+forecast:tenday
Yet MyForecast.com says an extended period of upper 80s/low 90s for Seattle (mid 90s for Bremerton) mid-late week and beyond:
http://www.myforecast.com/bin/expanded_forecast_15day.m?city=32324&metric=false
I’d be hesitant to check local forecasts from nationally based weather outlets like The Weather Channel, AccuWeather, etc. Their headquarters are centered along the east coast and they don’t spend half as much time as meteorologists over here do to predict long range weather for the Northwest.
Whether it gets as warm as forecasted or not, trust me, the models say we’re gonna get A LOT warmer around here!
~Matt