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Hello everyone! It’s good to be back. You know how they say real summer in Western Washington doesn’t occur until after Independence Day? Well it appears the new normal in these parts is to reverse the “beginning of summer” from Independence Day to Labor Day.
Interestingly, within the past few years in the Northwest, August and September have produced some of the warmest weather of the summer season, with this past September even flinging us well into the 80s. Why the seasons are lagging a little behind is definitely a question to ponder, but if this year follows the pattern of the past few, we may be headed for a warmer and drier than normal end to summer and fall season.
This is what we call an “indian summer”, which is an unseasonably warm period of weather in mid autumn usually preceded by a substantial period of cool weather. Another factor in favor of this warmer than normal fall forecast is the fact that as we speak an El Nino is brewing in the Equatorial Pacific, which could spell warmer and drier conditions in the Northwest through the winter. Although the current sea surface temperatures indicate a fairly neutral pattern as of now, it does have the potential of forming into a full blown El Nino event.
So while this doesn’t spell good news for you skiers and snowboarders, it will at least offer some of those summer fans an opportunity to enjoy a period of warmer weather often missed the past couple months.
Speaking of warmer weather, there is even more good news for you summer fans! The next few days will feature more of the same partly to mostly cloudy skies with highs in the low-mid 70s, but Friday through Sunday look gorgeous as of now (don’t you love that small caveat: as of now? ;)) with skies clearing and temperatures rebounding into the upper 70s and low 80s. I’ll keep an eye on the models, but it could even get warmer than that, so stay tuned!
Sure, the weather does cloud up a bit and turn slightly cooler for the new week but…let’s just focus on the positives for now 😉
Have a great evening everyone!
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
forecastingkitsap@live.com
over a 25 year resident here,and I still have not been to a single Seafair..That may change this weekend! 😀
Been saying this will be an Indian summer since May
Be nice to have a summer once in awhile
Haven’t for 6/7 years now
I’m just curious if anyone else has noticed so many cloudy summer mornings? I’ve lived in Olympia for 22 years, and it seems that July and August have had unusual heavy cloud layers, especially in the morning. I remember waking up to clear blue skies most days in July and August.