Friday, August 5, 2022

Brief Heat Wave & Smoke Slowly Returns

FastCast—Saturday, Aug. 6 to Wednesday, Aug. 10:

Seafair weekend has arrived in Seattle, and the weather will be on the warm side. Expect highs on Saturday to be in the low to mid 80s for the region (low 80s near the water). Sunday and Monday will both reach the upper 80s to low 90s in the lowlands, with foothill and SW Interior locations coming closer to the mid 90s. Overnight lows from Saturday to Monday will be in the upper 50s to low 60s. For Eastern Washington, another stretch of highs in the upper 90s to mid 100s is expected from Saturday to Tuesday. Lows will only drop into the mid 60s to low 70s. Relief comes statewide by Wednesday, but even sooner in the lowlands. Highs on Tuesday will drop back to the low to mid 80s, with clouds increasing in the evening. A system will move through overnight into Wednesday, bringing a chance of showers to the region. Highs will drop to the mid to upper 70s on Wednesday, with abundant clouds. We will be dealing with light surface smoke on Sunday due to Eastern Washington wildfires, as well as light smoke aloft due to those same fires. Thicker smoke aloft from California may arrive by late Sunday evening. Stay tuned!

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Continue reading the full blog below!

Sunny weather will prevail for the entirety of Seafair weekend in Seattle! Temperatures will be increasing with a brief heat wave for the region, though it will be a few degrees cooler along the water. 

The GFS forecast for Saturday is below. This forecast tends to be 2-3 degrees hotter than actual temperatures for Washington State.


On Saturday, expect lowland highs in the upper 70s to low 80s near the water and in the mid 80s away from the water. The foothills may reach the upper 80s to near 90. Offshore flow will bring temperatures in the 70s to the ocean beaches. The Portland area and Eastern Washington will be in the low to mid 90s on Saturday.

Sunday and Monday will be the hottest days of this heat wave. We will take a look at Sunday’s highs. Again, this forecast is likely 2-3 degrees too warm.


This will be the first of the 2 hottest days in the upcoming mini heat wave. Expect highs on Sunday to be in the low to mid 80s near the water and in the upper 80s to low 90s elsewhere in the lowlands. The foothills and SW Interior (Olympia area) will reach the low to mid 90s. The coast will again be dominated by offshore flow, with temperatures in the mid 70s to near 80 at the beaches, and even warmer inland. The Portland area and Eastern Washington will reach the mid 90s to near 100.

These temperatures will not be as hot as the previous heat wave, and this heat wave will not be nearly as long as the previous one, only lasting into early next week.

However, wildfire smoke is making a return to Western Washington. Although it will be light, the recent developments of wildfires in Eastern Washington have brought a potential for light near-surface smoke by Sunday.

The forecast for smoke aloft is below, from the HRRR model.


By this time, 3 PM Sunday, a veil of light smoke aloft will cover Western Washington due to offshore flow on Saturday and Sunday. This flow will change to southerly (from the south) later on Sunday, bringing a new round of thicker California smoke aloft. Stay tuned for more information about that.

Additionally, as mentioned earlier, there will be some light concentrations of smoke near the surface by Sunday afternoon, according to the HRRR forecast below.


This forecast shows very light surface smoke concentrations, due to Eastern Washington wildfires. No significant impacts to air quality are expected at this time, though that can change, so stay tuned by clicking the air quality link on the right side of the blog and typing in your city.

Stay tuned for updates on the end of the heat wave, the potential rain next week, and the wildfire smoke situation.

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