June plans a final weekend roast; temperatures heading toward record

The Puget Sound area is sizzling its way toward its warmest June on record, with weekend temperatures forecast to reach the low 90s.

High temperatures predicted for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are 85 Thursday, 88 Friday, 90 Saturday and 88 Sunday.

Olympia is expected to be warmer, with forecast highs reaching 92 Friday and 93 Saturday.

The warm June has given wildfire season an early start, triggered a statewide burn ban and prompted the National Weather Service to issue warnings about coping with heat, including staying hydrated and not leaving pets or kids in cars.

“Our summers are usually warm and dry, but not so much in June,” said weather service meteorologist Johnny Burg.

Across the Cascades, Eastern Washington is getting even warmer, with forecast weekend highs of 104 in Wenatchee, 106 in Walla Walla and 108 in Yakima.

And to the south, Portland is forecast to hit 100 degrees Saturday, its first three-digit high for the year.

Firefighting agencies on both side of the Cascades are closely monitoring the possibility of thunderstorms. that could trigger fires. On the Olympic Peninsula, the Paradise Fire northeast of Quinault was reported 30 percent contained after damaging 800 acres of timber.

A dry June is not something Western Washington residents expect, with genuine summertime weather often waiting until after Independence Day to take the stage.

Since 1945, when Sea-Tac became the site of Seattle’s official weather readings, the warmest June on record was in 1992, when the daily high temperature averaged 75.8.

That’s almost certain to be eclipsed this month, Burg said, noting an average high of 76.8 through Tuesday, and higher temperatures forecast for the remaining days of June.

Burg said Puget Sound’s dry days result from persistent high pressure and winds coming from inland, instead of from the Pacific Ocean. That pattern, he said, “tends to keep away the storms and keep away the rain.”

If forecasts hold, Sea-Tac will close out June having had a record 13 days in which the temperature reached 80 degrees or higher. In June of last year, the airport temperature never reached 80.

Sea-Tac’s current June record of 10 days at or above the 80-degree level was set in 1961 and again in 1970. The average June has 3.5 days of 80 degrees at Sea-Tac.

Just how hot is too hot? A survey reported by The Weather Channel indicates that depends on where you live.

When respondents across the Lower 48 were asked what temperature is too hot to enjoy, Washington tied eight other northern states at the wimpiest level, saying 85 degrees is too hot. (Although some web-footed Seattle residents whine at anything above 75.)

The most heat-tolerant respondents were in the desert states of Arizona and Nevada, who said it needs to get to 100 to bother them.

Rainfall at Sea-Tac for the month of June so far has been 0.22 inch. Although that’s well below the normal June rain of 1.57 inches, it’s above the record driest June of 0.13 inches in 1951.

Despite the dry June, Sea-Tac’s rainfall so far this year, 16.23 inches, is not dramatically below the normal 18.79 inches by this date.

What’s fueling concerns of a water shortage, particularly in Eastern Washington, is that the warm winter saw so much of the precipitation in the mountains falling as rain, and not building a snowpack needed for summer irrigation.