White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Things are finally beginning to cool off.  For those of you who, like myself, have family in places that get this kind of heat all the time, you might want to send them some of these facts as culled by Cliff Mass, UW Meteorologist.

It happened…Sea Tac is now 101 and STILL CLIMBING. Everett is an amazing 98 and Renton 102. And this is not over yet. We will not only break the record but smash it. Locations near the foothills are reaching 104- 106. This is an extraordinary event. Many stations will break their all-time record temperatures today and even more their daily values. Ballads will be written about the heat experienced today. (two days ago)
I went outside before…when I walked over asphalt or concrete my face felt on fire from the combination of high air temperature plus radiation emitting from the surface. Some students in my dept measured the surface ground temps with an infrared thermometer…they found 120-150F in some locations.

there have been a number of reports of western WA temps over 110F. Here is a report from Mark Albright, research scientist at the UW:

The highest temperatures in western Washington today (29 Jul 2009) seemed to be between Portland and Olympia. Check out this map for 2009073000 UTC:

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/marka/sfcplot.hot.gif

High temperatures reported today: Chehalis MS (CHHLS) reported 111F, Winlock (WINLK) 110F, and the Chehalis RAWS site reported 2 hours at 114 F

Some interesting sidenotes, New York City has experienced almost no days above 90, making it one of the coolest summers on record.   Enjoy the return of normal weather.

The new forecast came out early this morning and it’s NOT expected to hit triple digits again today. Or so the National Weather Service says.

In the Northwest we are not used to prolonged heat.  As such, we are unprepared to take measures to stay healthy under such conditions.  Cliff Mass puts it succintly:

Anyway, this is a very serious weather event, and the National Weather Service has upped their predictions to the century mark. People don’t think about heat waves in the same vain as storms, but heat kills more people around the world. So drink lots of liquids and check on the elderly, who are particularly vulnerable. Another risk is for kids in sports camps, where heat prostration can strike even the young. I am going to bike to work as usual, but will go early and my route is in the trees.

The only White Center location is the county library branch – but here’s the full list.

Perusing Cliff Mass weather blog and he points out this is the driest stretch that Washington state has experienced for this period in time.  But the kicker is that it’s going to get hotter – maybe into the mid-nineties by Monday and Tuesday of next week.

The National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory Alert for the Puget Sound area.

Heat Advisory

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
305 AM PDT WED JUN 3 2009

WAZ505-507>509-032300-
/O.NEW.KSEW.HT.Y.0001.090603T2100Z-090605T0100Z/
EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-EVERETT AND VICINITY-
SEATTLE/BREMERTON AREA-TACOMA AREA-
305 AM PDT WED JUN 3 2009

...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 6 PM PDT
THURSDAY..

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A HEAT
ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 6 PM
PDT THURSDAY.

OFFSHORE FLOW...WARM AIR ALOFT...LONG DAYS...AND A HIGH EARLY JUNE
SUN ANGLE ARE COMBINING TO PRODUCE VERY WARM CONDITIONS IN THE
SEATTLE-TACOMA-EVERETT AREA. DAYTIME TEMPERATURES ON TUESDAY ROSE
WELL INTO THE 80S TO AROUND 90. EXPECT TEMPERATURES THIS AFTERNOON
AND THURSDAY AFTERNOON TO BE ABOUT THE SAME AS TUESDAY...NEAR
RECORD LEVELS.

THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT AND AN OFFSHORE BREEZE MOVING DOWN
OFF THE CASCADES IS NOT ALLOWING TEMPERATURES TO COOL OFF MUCH AT
NIGHT. LOW TEMPERATURES THIS MORNING AND AGAIN THURSDAY MORNING
WILL ONLY BE AROUND 60 DEGREES.

DEWPOINT TEMPERATURES...A MEASURE OF HOW MUCH MOISTURE IS IN THE
AIR...HAVE BEEN IN THE COMFORTABLE LOWER 40S. THEY WILL RISE TO
THE LOWER 50S ON THURSDAY...MAKING IT FEEL A BIT MORE MUGGY AND
UNCOMFORTABLE. LIGHTER BREEZES ON THURSDAY WILL ALSO MAKE IT FEEL
MORE UNCOMFORTABLE.

THE EARLY JUNE WARM SPELL WILL COME TO AN ABRUPT END THURSDAY
EVENING AS A STRONG MARINE PUSH ALLOWS COOL AND MOIST PACIFIC AIR
TO SURGE INLAND.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS..

A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS
EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND RATHER HIGH
HUMIDITY CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE POSSIBLE.
DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM IF POSSIBLE.
STAY OUT OF THE SUN...AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.

REMEMBER THAT AREA LAKES AND RIVERS ARE STILL COLD. ESCAPING THE
HEAT BY JUMPING INTO A COLD LAKE OR RIVER CAN LEAD TO DEATH BY
HYPOTHERMIA OR DROWNING.

If it hasn’t turned to rain already where you are, it should soon. But watch out for possible wind trouble later today – there’s a National Weather Service advisory from noon-11 pm.

5:19 PM UPDATE: The wind’s here. Be safe. Gusts up to 50 mph are possible (and Alki Point in West Seattle had one at 45 mph at 5 pm).

Snow showers are expected for much of the day (and the next few days, at this point). No bus/road trouble reported by King County yet; they’ve now added a blog-format website (see it here) and a Twitter account (@kcnews) for informal updates.

SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Snowing in White Center as of about 9 pm. Nothing big around the area so far, though North Seattle neighborhoods have even had thunder/lightning/hail tonight.

Metro is reporting some delays, though the list is fairly shortly right now; check this list for the latest.

Also, Highline Public Schools are starting 2 hours late, along with: Limited Bus Transportation. No A.M. ECEAP, preschool, kindergarten, PSSC. No Out-of-District Transport. Seattle Public Schools are 2 hours late as well.

ADDED 7:12 AM: We have scattered reports of Metro delays that are not listed on the “adverse weather” page, so be forewarned if you are planning on taking the bus.

ADDED 8:30 AM: Metro now says ALL riders should expect delays; we have had reports of area routes experiencing delays/no-shows that were not listed on the Metro “adverse weather” page.

The temperatures are warming a bit and the snow that’s been falling most of the day is turning to rain. Here’s the latest forecast.

The roads are still OK but everything else has a coating of white. Forecasters continue to promise that this will only last a few hours, and then it’ll get rained away.

No shortage of ice this morning – and tomorrow, the forecast says again today, might start with snow.

Cliff Mass is indicating that a cold front will be moving into the Puget Sound region this weekend.  Expect icy roads and much colder weather, perhaps even snow.

By Sunday AM we will be cold enough aloft for snow..but there is a real question on how much precipitation will be around. The latest runs only indicate light snow south of Seattle. The current forecast configuration does not look amenable to a significant snowfall. I will update much more on this tomorrow.

Your wood-burning fireplace and stove are now offlimits unless they’re your only “adequate source of heat.” Here’s why.

At White Center’s Lakewood Park, we checked out Hicks Lake at midday today. We’ve heard Dick Thurnau from Friends of Hicks Lake explain how it’s flooded in the past, so we know it’s got lots of room to rise. Great day to be a duck, though:

By the way, update on Ricardo’s post from earlier: The county now lists more than 60 roads as closed because of floodwaters. But King County has nothing on some areas further north and south, where entire towns (such as Orting) are reportedly being evacuated — follow the latest via tagged Twitter bulletins by watching this real-time search.

King County just posted the closure of 21 roads due to flooding.  Most of the roads are in rural King County.  You can find the complete list here. Will update if any roads in this community are affected.