Seattle set to obliterate all-time record for warmest nights

By Scott Sistek
29 August 2013 (KOMO) – Seattle is about to not set, not break, not even shatter, but obliterate its record for all-time warmest nighttime lows in a month — and this counts the city’s entire 122-year records, including the Downtown Federal Building. Through midday on Thursday, the average low temperature in Seattle for August stood at exactly 60 degrees. It’s notable because 1) Seattle has never in its history had a month with an average low temperature at 60 degrees or warmer and 2) It’s never really been that close. For Sea-Tac Airport, where the numbers count now, the current warmest average low was 58.4 degrees in 1967. (Warmest overall is 59.1 in July of 1941 at the Federal Building). Seattle needs to average 61.9 degrees for its average low over the 29th-31st to hold this 60 degree monthly average. So far on the 29th as of this writing, the morning low was a whopping 66 degrees (another obliteration alert: The record warmest low for Aug. 29 is 60) but there is still a chance the temp will drop below 66 before 1 a.m. PDT (midnight Pacific Standard Time — where climate is recorded) so Thursday’s low is not set in stone yet. But if the 66 holds, Friday and Saturday’s lows just need to be 60 degrees or warmer to set this 60-degree monthly mark, and forecasted lows are right at 60 for both nights. Either way, the all-time warmest month ever is essentially guaranteed. Even if Thursday ends up 64 and we *hit our record lows on Friday and Saturday*, which has zero chance of happening, we’d still break the all-time Sea-Tac record by a full half degree. So the only drama is what number we will write in the record books when all is said and done. Most of our warm overnight lows come on days when we have our searing heat waves — the kind of days when hits 90 or so and the east winds keep pushing warm air in overnight. Lows on those nights are routinely in the mid 60s. [more]