Natural air conditioner

Today is Thursday, but it felt like Friday for me because I am taking tomorrow off from work! The first part will be restful, but then its go time… 

Another good day at work. I was able to mow the lawn this evening and was about to put weed and feed on the lawn, but the dispensing tool is a piece of crap and is broken already (we bought it last year fully realizing the probability of failure was nearly 100%). However, maybe it was for the good because the lawn food probably would have gone to waste over the next few days because it is supposed to get HOT!

A thermal trough of low pressure is slated to move up the west coast and reach Seattle this weekend producing widespread temperatures in the 80’s and perhaps topping 90 degrees. Most of the time, the Pacific Ocean acts as a natural air conditioner and modifies the air making it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. However, when strong high pressure is located inland and a thermal low is located off the coast, the air flows east over the mountains from toasty eastern Washington instead of west off the ocean. The result is hot weather for Western Washington. A warm spell like this is not out of the ordinary for Seattle at any time of the summer. In fact, they have happened as early as April. However, they usually only last between two and four days. The thermal low is ultimately forced over the Cascade Mountains by the unrelenting marine winds resulting in a switch in the direction of the wind, an “on-shore” push, and a dramatic decrease in temperatures. One day it’ll be 90 and wall-to-wall sunshine, the next day it will be in the low 70’s with a marine layer. When the spell pushes more than five days in Seattle, people start to complain. This one is forecasted to get rolling on Saturday or Sunday and last through about Wednesday, so I’d call it an 8 out of 10 on the Seattle heat scale. The record high Sunday in Seattle is 87 and 88 on Monday. If the forecast goes as predicted those records will definitely be in jeopardy and likely be broken. What usually happens after a warm streak like this is another streak of cloudy, gray, and cool weather. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts! 

As you can tell, I love meteorology!