Seattle-area weather updates: What to know as parts of Western WA sizzle

Mercer Island is using too much water during the current heat wave, depleting reservoirs faster they can refill, the city said Monday night.

If water use isn't reduced by Tuesday night, there may be mandatory water restrictions and a "severe water emergency," according to a post on the city's website.

The island's water use peaked at more than 7,000 gallons per minute on Monday, according to its water use dashboard. The island can receive only up to 2,500 gallons per minute from a backup line supplying water to its reservoirs.

The city asks residents and businesses to take actions including:

• ▪Ensure automatic irrigation systems are turned off.
• ▪Talk with landscaping providers about cutting water use.
• ▪Avoid doing laundry for the next two days.
• ▪Minimize shower water use.
• ▪Do not run sprinklers.
• ▪Water plants/yards as little as possible.
• ▪Let your lawn go dormant (brown).
• ▪Do not wash vehicles.
• ▪Do not refill swimming pools or hot tubs.
• ▪Turn off water features, such as fountains.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport hit 95 degrees Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service said, tying a record for July 8 set in 2010. Olympia reached 99 degrees, eclipsing its record of 95.

On Tuesday, Seattle’s high is expected to reach 96 — hot enough that remote workers might just come in for the office air-conditioning.

A heat advisory for much of Western Washington, including King, Snohomish, Pierce, and Kitsap counties, continues through Wednesday.

Read the full story here.

The new data shows in 2021, the share of Seattle-area homes with air conditioning was 53% — that’s an increase of 9 percentage points in just two years. According to the survey, of the projected 1.6 million homes in our metro area, around 844,400 had air conditioning.

The data comes from the American Housing Survey, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The survey is published every two years, and the most recent release is for 2021.

Read the full story here.

Whether during the day or at night, some best practices when it comes to heat include staying hydrated and never leaving pets or children unattended in cars, the weather service said.

Here are some additional tips, including some from the Washington Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to keep cool as temperatures soar:

1. Read the full story here.

Puget Sound Energy is asking customers to reduce energy use from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday to minimize strain on the electrical grid.

"Our system is designed and maintained to provide reliable service during peak times of use," said spokesperson Gerald Tracy. "We're not concerned at this time and the grid is performing well."

Tracy likens these high-demand times, which the agency calls "flex events," to rush hour on a highway. When more people are home in late afternoon and early evening, cooking, doing laundry and running their air conditioning, it can create a traffic jam. The agency encourages customers to delay using large appliances, turn off lights or unplug electronics.

"When heat comes like this, we'll call events from time to time," Tracy said. There will likely be more throughout the summer, he said.

Changing your energy use habits can yield rewards. PSE gave customers more than $1.8 million in incentives last fall after starting the program. Customers can enroll in the Flex Rewards program to be rewarded for their energy conservation during peak usage times.

Temperatures in the low 90s didn't stop a group of friends from taking batting practice at Magnuson Park on Monday.

While we're all lying in front of our fans trying not to dwell on climate change, we've still got to feed ourselves.

Here are some things to eat that can help make heat-wave life less horrifying, at least for a little while: banh mi, a fried chicken picnic in the shade, cold noodles, cold soup, salad, frozen treats are just a few.

Read the full story here.

Due to heat, Recology will start its residential trash pickup in King County at 6 a.m. Tuesday, the company said on social media platform X.

In this video, Kyle Daniel, a nursery and landscape specialist in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Agriculture at Purdue University, explains when and how much garden and landscape plants should be watered during periods of high heat.

The Washington State History Museum in Tacoma will open for free on Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to serve as a community cooling center, the museum said on social media platform X.

Temperatures in Tacoma are expected to be in the 90s on Tuesday.

Here's the list of cooling centers in Pierce County, King County and Snohomish County.

There are the tried-and-true methods of staying cool in summer heat — drinking cold beverages, buying blackout curtains, grilling outside. But do some of the more unusual life hacks floating around the internet work?

Here's one that does: Wet a thin towel or sheet, and squeeze out any excess water. Hang it directly in front of an open window. Warm air will pass through the material causing the water to evaporate and the air to cool.

Read the story here.

As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, temperatures in Seattle hit 91 degrees, according to a post from the National Weather Service on social media platform X.

Temperatures in Olympia rose to 95 degrees, the weather service said.

The overnight temperature at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport dipped to 67 degrees early Monday, which the National Weather Service said is likely to set a record high minimum for July 8.

The night ranks 18th on the list of warmest nights on record, with 17 of the top 20 having occurred in the past 20 years.

At Paine Field in Everett, the low temperature through 4:30 a.m. Monday was 73 degrees. In 76 years of record keeping, a low temperature at or above 70 degrees has occurred just twice at Paine Field, the weather service said.

As the Puget Sound region settles into the summer months, more children are accidentally falling out of open windows.

Dr. Brian Johnston, chief of Pediatrics at Harborview Medical Center, said the area is in the “throes of window fall season.” The lack of air conditioning in homes in the region paired with warmer weather leads to more open windows, increasing the risk of children falling out of them.

In Snohomish County, 14 kids have fallen out of windows so far this year, nearly doubling its annual average of eight incidents, according to South County Fire.

Read the full story here.

Global average temperatures have now hit or exceeded a key climate threshold for 12 months, highlighting the challenge in limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) above the preindustrial era.

The average for the year through June 2024 was 1.64 C higher than the era from 1850 to 1900, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a report published Monday. Last month was the hottest-ever June, the 13th consecutive time a month has set a new average temperature record.

Read the story here.

It's easy to find the water in Seattle. From Elliott Bay and Puget Sound to Lake Union and Lake Washington, chances are you're just a short distance from aquatic fun in the Emerald City. 

On a warm day this summer, consider these options to have some fun on the water around Seattle for less than $50.

Read the full story here.

Editor's note: The story above was written last year, and the rates and hours may have changed since then. Double check with businesses before you go.

Seattle has no shortage of gorgeous beaches. Nestled between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, the city has about 200 miles of fresh and saltwater shoreline. 

But which beach do you flock to when the sun comes out? We asked readers to vote for their favorite and make its case.

Read the full story here.

Central Oregon officials have lowered an evacuation order after partially containing a 458-acre wildfire near Redmond.

The McCaffrey fire began Saturday immediately east of the Redmond Municipal Airport, prompting the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office to issue a “Go Now!” evacuation order Saturday afternoon for parts of the county. By around 6 p.m. Sunday the order was lowered to “Be Set” to evacuate.

Read the full story here.

A man drowned Saturday near the Granite Falls fish ladder, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Shortly after 5 p.m., deputies and the fire department responded to a report of a man in the Stillaguamish River near the 11600 block of Mountain Loop Highway, the department posted on X.

Responders provided aid, but the man, 46, died.

Read the full story here.

Authorities in Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, reported on Monday four suspected heat-related deaths as the region continued to swelter under an early heat wave.

The county medical examiner was investigating at least three such deaths reported on Friday and Sunday, officials said, adding that a fourth man transported from outside the county died from a suspected heat-related illness at a Portland hospital on Saturday.

Authorities said it will take investigators weeks or months to confirm the causes of death.

Read the full story here.

We’re tracking active wildfires throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Washington’s wildfire season typically runs from June to September and particularly affects the region east of the Cascades, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. 

Read the full story and see the maps here.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A long-running heat wave that has already shattered previous records across the U.S. persisted on Sunday, baking parts of the West with dangerous temperatures that caused the death of a motorcyclist in Death Valley and held the East in its hot and humid grip.

An excessive heat warning — the National Weather Service’s highest alert — was in effect for about 36 million people, or about 10% of the population, said NWS meteorologist Bryan Jackson. Dozens of locations in the West and Pacific Northwest tied or broke previous heat records.

Read the full story here.

More record-breaking heat could be on the way, after a weekend that already broke several single-day records.

Quillayute hit 85 degrees on Saturday, 3 degrees hotter than the previous record set on that date in 2010. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport simmered at 93 degrees on Sunday, also rising three degrees hotter than the previous July 7 record of 90 degrees set in 2010.

Olympia got up to 97 degrees, breaking the 95-degree record for July 7 set in 1953.

Parts of Western Washington also had one of the warmest nights in history Monday morning.

Read the full story here.