Is it just me or are the PNW summers hotter and drier than they've used to be? (Seattle: 2015, swimming)

[Mopac1980]

I've been noticing that the past few years the summers in the PNW have been hotter and drier compared to what they used to be, I don't ever remember seeing a bunch of fires and smoke on a regular basis until a few years ago, it makes me wonder if the summers in the PNW are a lot different than what they've used to be.

[sylentvoyce]

I do have some memories of triple digit summers from my childhood that seemed to mellow out up until recently. The near constant fire smoke however, that seems to be a newer thing.

[thatguy950]

Sure feels that way

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Mopac1980

I've been noticing that the past few years the summers in the PNW have been hotter and drier compared to what they used to be, I don't ever remember seeing a bunch of fires and smoke on a regular basis until a few years ago, it makes me wonder if the summers in the PNW are a lot different than what they've used to be.

Of course they're hotter and drier. Where have you been, lol? This has been discussed to death, and will continue to be a topic of discussion.

IDK if you remember the 80's, but that was a dry decade. Not only were the summers dry, with water rationing 6 out of 10 years, but the fall seasons were dry too, with only rare cloud cover. Doesn't sound like Seattle, does it? And the latter part of each summer was hot, though only occasionally grazing 90 for a day or two. The difference between that, and the last few years, is that the situation has intensified, plus, there are these freak extreme events lasting several days to a week, that can begin as early as May.

Did you think you were imagining it, OP? You're not.

[Diana Holbrook]

We've always had 9 months of rain and three months of drought.

Common to have no real rain from July 1-Sept 1.

We've always had sunny summers, with heat waves that would last about a week at a time, where it got REALLY hot, like we're having now.

It's just before, we were kids, and hot meant fun and games and swimming and playing in the sprinkler.

Now it just means it's hot when we're trying to work.


That's the only difference I see.

[mayfair]

The smoke is new, and seems to be here to stay.

[Upthewazzu]

Originally Posted by mayfair

The smoke is new, and seems to be here to stay.

Agree with this. Hot and dry isn't new, the smoke is.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

We've always had 9 months of rain and three months of drought.

Common to have no real rain from July 1-Sept 1.

We've always had sunny summers, with heat waves that would last about a week at a time, where it got REALLY hot, like we're having now.

It's just before, we were kids, and hot meant fun and games and swimming and playing in the sprinkler.

Now it just means it's hot when we're trying to work.


That's the only difference I see.

The heat waves used to be in the second half of the summer, though. Now they can strike in May or June. And the dry season has extended into May, now, I'm told.

[Mopac1980]

I don't ever remember seeing so much smoke during the summertime until the Summer of 2015 along with this year's summer and last year's summer.

[leastprime]

Yes.