Quite the week ahead weather-wise: heat, smoke, and potential for more thunderstorms...in this update, I'll run through an overview of the week ahead - I'll plan to post daily updates this week with more near-term info each day.
Let's start off with the heat: the National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory from 10am Tuesday thru 11pm Wednesday. They're calling for afternoon high temps in the mid-90s on Tuesday, with overnight lows only dropping to the low- to mid-60s. Monday and Wednesday will also be on the hot side, in the upper-80s to low-90s...plenty warm again Thursday, before finally cooling off Friday into the weekend.
Switching gears now...over the last several days, the winds have been generally "onshore" - meaning they've generally been blowing from west to east, or coming from the ocean. Tonight and tomorrow, they're forecast to switch "offshore" - coming from east of the Cascades instead. These offshore winds are a big factor in heat waves, but that's a story for another time - this week, they do have the potential to bring smoke from fires in BC and eastern Washington. At this point, it does not look like it'll affect surface air quality too much, but that's always subject to change. At the very least, the sky could look fairly hazy at times over the next few days.
Wrapping up with the thunderstorm potential...on Thursday, there's another slight chance of some thunderstorm development, kinda like last Thursday. It's still pretty far out, and a lot can (and will!) change between now and then...but it's worth at least mentioning. Not much precip is expected with it - which means it would potentially cause more harm than good, with many new lightning-sparked fires.
Whew...that's a lot - thanks for sticking around until the end! If you thought summer weather was boring in the PNW, this week will disprove that real quick! Back tomorrow morning with an update.