After what has seemed like a dreadful start to summer (at least to some), it seems like summer has finally started in the area.

Overall, since meteorological summer began in June, temperatures have been mostly in the 60s and low 70s, as illustrated in the figure below. In fact, at least at Paine Field, the temperature has not yet reached 80 degrees. On average, the first 80-degree day of the year is June 12—so we’re a little behind schedule! The last time it’s been at least this far into summer without an 80-degree day was 2012 (when the first 80 degree day occurred on August 4th)!

In terms of precipitation at KPAE, we are actually slightly below the average accumulation of 2.53 inches since June 1st, with a total of 2.34 inches. However, when you look at the number of days with non-zero amounts of rain, it tells a different story. We are currently at 23 days of rain in the same time span.** And many of those days were on a weekend!

As you can see, this year ranks number 2 for the most amount of days of rain in the available data. So even though the rain didn’t amount to much, we’ve seen more days of rain than usual.

But now it seems like we’ve flipped a switch and summer has finally arrived. And for the most part, it looks like it’s here to stay for awhile.

The above figure shows that besides a small blip of rain expected on Friday, we are supposed to be primarily dry for most of the forecast period, which will no doubt make many people happy. Even some of the most stout rain lovers are ready to have a little bit of real summer-like weather. I’ll admit it’s been a little nice to go outside without worrying about getting rained on.

Thanks to a nice ridge of high pressure setting up shop in the area, temperatures for the rest of the week will be quite comfortable, primarily in the low-to-mid 70s in the Everett area…which is just right, in my opinion. Tomorrow (Wednesday) looks to be the warmest day of the week. Some areas in Western Washington could even reach the low 80s! Friday’s temperature should drop slightly associated with the weak system that looks to bring a bit of rain over the area.

According to most recent models, next week is when more of the heat could make its way back. There’s still time for things to change but it’s definitely something to keep in mind looking ahead.

In the meantime, enjoy the summer weather and get outside…safely of course! It looks like the warm and dry weather is here to stay for awhile.

**Note: one of the precipitation daily values is missing from the 2020 official data, but in combing over other sources of data, I believe it did rain on that day. That would put the number of days with precipitation at 24.