a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
Happy Friday.
It is Labor Day Weekend here in the United States: the unofficial end of summer.
There was a little rain on Tuesday and Wednesday here in the city (0.2 in) and mild temperatures all week (high 60s, about 19 °C).
The hardy plumbago (leadwort) on my back porch has bloomed, the way it does every year, late summer and into fall.
Happy Friday.
Here is tonight’s sunset, seen from East Mercer St and 13th Avenue East. (Sunset is now at 8.10 pm.)
Happy Friday.
The smoke has returned here, to the west of the Cascade Mountains, but the worst of it lies at 5,000 ft or higher.
The day-time highs here in the city have been right around the average for August this week: high 70s with 80°F (27°C) today.
Happy Friday.
It was a warm-ish day (83°F/ 28°C) here in the city, but there was a breeze around this morning and tonight.
The smoky air has cleared somewhat.
Blistering heat was expected to spread across a vast portion of the Western United States on Friday and through the weekend, with temperatures soaring into the 90s and even to over 120 degrees from the deserts of Arizona and California to the rolling plains of Montana.
The forecast showed the heat peaking in many places on Saturday and Sunday, when afternoon temperatures could rise as high as 103 (39.5°C) in Sacramento, 105 (40.5°C) in Salt Lake City, 115 (46°C) in Las Vegas and 117 (47 °C) in Palm Springs, according to the National Weather Service.
-Amy Graff writing for the New York Times
Happy Friday.
I walked down to the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library today to take back my two books that were badly overdue. I walked by the little car with the AFK BYE* plates again, and it made me smile.
*Away From Keyboard, Bye. AFK originated in 1990s chatrooms and gaming communities, and is now commonly used in mobile messaging to let someone know you will be temporarily unavailable to respond.
(Just make sure the other person knows what AFK stands for, or they might think you cussed at them and no longer want to respond! 😆)
It was toasty outside here in the city of Seattle, yesterday and today: 92°F (33°C).
It will cool down tomorrow, though. Elsewhere in the United States there are communities that deal with much warmer days, with flash floods and with tornadoes.
And look at the cheeky post of German magazine Die Zeit on X, about a First World soccer fan’s dilemma:
‘The big question after the World Cup: What gives life structure now, with no more football on TV?’
Answer: All right, I guess I’d better go return the deposit bottles now.
Happy Friday.
It’s wildfire season and dozens of wildfires are suddenly burning in Oregon, reports the New York Times. The state told thousands of people to be ready to evacuate.
In the northeastern United States, smoke from Canadian wildfires will likely linger in the air for the World Cup Final that is set for Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
So far, predictions are that conditions will be noticeably improved compared to previous days, though. 🤞
This morning, a storm brought thunder, lightning, and heavy rain to large parts of downtown Seattle.
The downpour totaled 0.36 inches (9 mm), and brought a sudden end to our 19-day dry spell.
There were beautiful clouds in the view from 13th Ave E and East Mercer St this morning. The Space Needle dome still has its soccer ball coat on, but maybe not for much longer, now that the World Cup is in its final week.
We have been blessed with mild day temperatures the last week or two here in the city— 72°F (22°C) today.
A heatwave was building again in the Southwest and Great Plains this weekend, and it is going to move eastward from there.
Recency bias is a cognitive shortcut where our brains heavily favor recent events, making them feel more important, likely, or accurate than older information. Because these memories are the freshest, they disproportionately skew our judgment and decision-making.
-Google AI Overview
June is done, and we are at the halfway mark for 2026.
I was going to remark that it was a cool June, but the data says otherwise!
It was a warmer-than-usual June.
Today was the last of the three warm days for now.
We had 88 °F (31 °C) here in the city— very warm for early summer, but nowhere near the extreme heat that scorches Europe right now.
Paris experienced a high of 106° F (41° C) today with a low of 77° F (25° C) during a record-breaking early summer heat event.
It was warm outside today, with a high of 88°F (31°C) here in the city.
I went down to Myrtle Edwards Park on Elliott Bay for a few sunset photos.
The park has refreshed landscapes with new lawns, meadows, and trees that flourish in coastal conditions.
It also offers improved access to two beach coves and enhanced pedestrian and bike trails.
I have plans to travel to Boston on Friday*, and I see there was a severe thunderstorm over the city today.
Temperature highs had spiked up all the way to 96°F (36°C), a new record for May 19.
*A conference billed as the Boston 2026 World Expo starts there in the convention center on Saturday. It is the 12th international philatelic exhibition of the United States and serves as one of the world’s largest global stamp and history gatherings.
[caption and image from nbcboston.com]
No! It’s cold! Go back and put your thicker jacket on, I thought, as I headed out the door tonight for a quick walk.
The high today was 61 °F (16 °C), and it was only 53 °F (12 °C) in the early evening hours.
Happy Earth Day.
It is a rainy day here in the city of Seattle (55 °F/ 13 °C).
A storm brought thunder, lightning and a little hail to the city today (a quarter inch).
By 6 pm I could go for a walk with my umbrella but I did not venture out too far. It was only 42°F (5 °C).
There was some damage to the tulips and daffodils in the neighborhood.
A Tesla service truck full of Tesla tires was out and about, and had just replaced the rear wheel and tire on a white Model Y by the curb.
It is a soggy start to April here in the Emerald City.
There was a beautiful sunbreak at 6.50 pm, as I stood on the corner of Thomas St and 13th Avenue East on Capitol Hill.
Tonight, there is a full moon in the sky.
Very appropriate— with the Artemis II mission to the moon launch that happened just a few hours earlier from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
White snow flakes started coming down here in the city in the wee hours of the morning, transitioning to a very light snow for most of the daylight hours.
Snow in Seattle during March is uncommon— recorded only a handful of times in the last century.
Temperatures are mild today (38°F/ 3°C), so some of the snow on the ground has melted away already. (About 3 in. of snow on the ground).
I took these pictures shortly after 9 am this morning.
A heat wave in the Cape Town area in the Western Cape in South Africa is driving late-late summer temperatures to record highs.
At Kirstenbosch, the botanical garden in heart of the city, the high reached 42.1 °C (108 °F) on Wednesday, the highest since records began 66 years ago.
Cape Point on the Cape Peninsula also set a record with a temperature of 40°C (104 °F), a first for that location, and verified by the South African Weather Service.
At Alexander Bay in the extreme and arid northwest of the Western Cape province and on the border with Namibia, a reading of 44.8°C (112 °F) was logged.
