Let’s remember a record-setting heatwave that hit the Seattle area, on this day in 2009 (July 29)
Ten years ago today, it was unreasonably warm out.
HistoryLink’s Peter Blecha says:
On July 29, 2009, a scorching weeklong heat wave across the Pacific Northwest peaks with record-high temperatures being set in various area towns. Seattle reaches 103 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in recorded history while Olympia hits 104 degrees; Kent reaches 106 degrees; Winlock 110 degrees; and Chehalis 111 degrees. Well into a season whose generally sunny weather is already notable for tying Seattle’s driest spell ever recorded — no measurable rain for 29 days (in May and June, until some showers on June 19th) — the heat suddenly ratchets up during the final week of July.
Amid multiple electrical power outages in various places (including Tacoma, downtown Bellevue, and the University of Washington campus) and the sparking of home-threatening brush fires (such as the 600-acre blaze that broke out near Chelan on the 28th), the National Weather Service issued “hazardous weather condition(s)” warnings and “URGENT” air-stagnation advisories (“THE STABLE AIR MASS WILL LIMIT DISPERSION OF OZONE POLLUTANTS AND AIR QUALITY WILL DETERIORATE”). Air-quality warnings were also posted by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
Read the whole thing:
