a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
We’re out of the latest heatwave here in the city.
We had 91°F (33 °C) on Tuesday, but only 75°F (24 °C) today.
The smoke and fine, fine ash flakes in the air have not gone away, though. Officials now say the Bear Gulch fire will burn until winter— one of seven large wildfires in Washington State. It continues to grow and is still only 3% contained.
The meteorologists are promising us (well, a 95% chance) that we will get a little rain tomorrow here in the Seattle metro area— actually, as much as 0.45 inches.
It’s summer, so it is wildfire season— and the dry conditions everywhere in Washington State are not helping.
There was only a trace of rain (less than 0.01 in) this July here in the city.
The last year that had happened was in 2003.
We are having a run of beautiful and mild sunny days here in Seattle.
The high today was 77°F (25°C).
I walked down to the fountain and texture pool in Cal Anderson Park just before sunset.
Sunset is now at 8.56 pm and there were beautiful soft blues, pinks and oranges on the horizon, looking out towards the Olympic Mountains behind the Space Needle.
We had 88°F (31°C) here in Seattle today.
The National Weather Service issued a Heat Advisory for today and tomorrow for the Seattle area— with potential for temperatures in the mid-90s (35°C) on Wednesday.
Three amigos ran out to Marymoor Park by Redmond this morning— the site for the Electrify Expo Seattle 2025.
From Google Search Labs | AI Overview:
Rainfall in Seattle during June 2025 was 0.40 inches, which is significantly below average.
This amount is 73% less than the 30-year average for June, which is 1.49 inches.
For comparison, here is a summary of June rainfall in recent years:
2024: 2.02 inches
2023: 1.42 inches
2022: 4.98 inches
Historically, June is one of the drier months in Seattle, with the average rainfall being around 1.6 inches. The wettest June on record saw 3.90 inches of rain in 1946.
[Image from the official Wimbledon website]
*Yes, there is still croquet, played on three dedicated lawns, but they are converted into practice tennis courts during the championships.
Here are a few random notes for today:
– The hottest day ever recorded at the Wimbledon tennis tournament was July 1, 2015, with a temperature of 35.7 °C (96.3°F). This record was matched today on the first day of the 2025 tournament, Monday, June 30;
– Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (21, 🇫🇷) hit a serve that clocked in at 153 mph (246 km/h), the fastest ever recorded, anywhere;
– World No 733 Oliver Tarvet (21, 🇬🇧) won his first round match as a qualifier in the main draw. He must now spend most of his £99,000 winnings to retain his amateur status on the NCAA Tennis circuit (he plays college tennis at the University of San Diego and wants to continue doing that for another year or two);
– Tarvet will play Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday in the second round.
Alcaraz needed five sets today to eliminate Fabio Fognini (38, 🇮🇹) 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Fognini is retiring after this season and asked Alcaraz for his shirt after the match to give to his son Frederico (he got it; they are good friends);
– On No. 1 Court, Jiao Fonseca (18, 🇧🇷) became the first 18-year-old to reach the second round since a certain Carlos Alcaraz did it in 2021. Fonseca needed only three sets to get past Jacob Fearnley (23, 🇬🇧);
– Line judges have been a part of Wimbledon since the very first Championships in 1877, but this year the humans have been replaced with Hawk-Eye Live (a system of up to 18 cameras equipped with AI that analyzes footage from the cameras to determine if a ball is in or out).
It was another cool and overcast day here in Seattle with 66°F (19°C) and a little rain this afternoon.
The garden dahlia, peony and borage (starflower) are from the P-Patch community garden at Republican St and 20th Ave E.
Happy Friday.
Happy Summer Solstice (here in the northern hemisphere).
The arrival of summer weather has been delayed by a few days here in Seattle, with cool and rainy weather expected this weekend.
The high today was only 62°F (17°C).
We had a little bit of June gloom this morning with cool weather and low clouds.
The clouds are mostly gone now, so maybe I will get a good look at Junes’s Strawberry Moon* tonight.
*Named thus not because of the reddish glow, but because strawberries are harvested in June.
The Seattle metro area is coming out of the summer’s first heat wave.
A record high for June 8 was recorded at the airport on Sunday (90°F / 32°C).
It was still hot today, with a high of 87°F (31°C).
The amigos went out to the Mt Baker tennis courts for pickleball at 9.30 am before it got too toasty.
Here’s June, and the 9.00 pm sunsets of 2025 have arrived here in Seattle.
So even if one is quite late making supper or dinner, there is still plenty of time for an after-dinner stroll.
It felt like summer today.
The high was near the record for this day on the calendar:
78°F (26°C) today, and the record is 81°F (27°C) recorded on May 6, 1957.
There will be cooler weather again for the rest of the week.
It was beautiful outside today (68°F/ 20°C).
I walked down to Capitol Hill library to return two books, where I found the latest issue of The Atlantic on the magazine rack, with some unsettling writing inside (see below).
In the upside-down place we find ourselves with the Trump administration, it’s almost a positive that his 42%-or-so approval rating after 100 days in office is the lowest of any modern US president.
P.S. The US stock market held up surprisingly well this week, and April’s jobs report showed a gain of 177,000 jobs, exceeding expectations. Unemployment remains steady at 4.2%, and average hourly earnings rose modestly.
There was light rain this afternoon, but I took my umbrella and went for a walk around the neighborhood.
Happy Friday, and Happy Easter.
We had sunny weather all week here in the city, and today the temperatures touched 70°F (21°C).
It will be cooler with a little bit of rain over the weekend.
We had showers this morning here in Rain City, and a steady rain was sifting down all afternoon and into the evening.
When I ventured out with my umbrella, it felt a little colder than the 57°F (14°C) shown on my weather app.
The storm arrived on cue at 7 pm with some lightning and thunder, and with heavy winds and rain, but no hail.
Power outages for now seem to be limited to one or two areas, and some flight delays at Sea-Tac airport were reported.
It is 9.15 pm as I write this, and I think the worst of the storm activity is over.
It was a lovely day, just the way the weather prognosticators said it would be, with a high of 71°F (22°C).
I put on my shorts and walked down to the QFC grocery store on Broadway with my lily-white winter legs exposed to the bright sunlight.
There is a thunderstorm brewing off the coast, though, with some dire warnings in the forecast for Wednesday (see below).
(Lucky for us that we still have a National Weather Service— or is it about to be shut down with all the other government agencies?)
