It’s time to stop complaining about the Northwest weather.
Almost perfection is ahead.
With sea air moving onshore, temperatures over the western part of the Cascades are now in the 60s and 70s. And according to the latest forecast models, western Washington will be at 70 (see Seattle forecast. under). Eastern Washington will remain warm, but not too hot.
The temperature will be cool in the mid 50s every night, the weather is good for sleeping.
Air quality is excellent in the area (see PurpleAir map below, green is good), as the change in winds has pushed all of Canada’s smoke out of the Northwest.
Forest fires?
Contrary to some scary claims around, the forest fire area is below average At this time of year, only three small fires are currently burning, with two nearly dead. Moderate temperatures and relatively light winds should stave off any major outbursts over the next week.
We passed the extremely dangerous fire period on July 4th in good condition.
Precipitation? Not much is expected in western Washington but much in BC and northeastern WA, which should help put out the fires.
The origin of this wonderful midsummer break?
A persistent trench is predicted to form and reform offshore (see 18,000 ft high pressure/altitude forecast for next Wednesday morning). Blue indicates values below the mean (bottom). The northwest heat wave is associated with high amplitude (high pressure) over the northwest Pacific Ocean.
A very different model than predicted.
The recent trend of offshore low pressure appearance is very persistent. This isn’t the wet style for Washington and Oregon, but it’s the one that delivers moderate temperatures.
