July's summer sizzle breaks all-time heat record in Western Washington; state says 'extreme fire danger' in 11 counties

SEATTLE -- The summer of 2015 is sizzling like no other we've seen in recorded weather history here.

As the mercury climbed to the mid-90s Thursday afternoon around the Puget Sound lowlands, it marked the 10th time we've seen 90 degrees or warmer in 2015. That's something that has never happened since record keeping began in the Emerald City in 1894.

A typical summer in Seattle only has about four days of 90 plus temperatures. The previous record of days 90 or above was 9, set back in 2009. That was the same year that Seattle hit 103-- the hottest single day temperature ever recorded at SeaTac.

Meanwhile, the Washington state Department of Natural Resources said there is extreme fire danger in 11 Washington counties (red) and high fire danger in 28 others. Here is its map:





Officials with the National Weather Service office in Seattle says that "Seattle is on the verge of setting the record for all-time warmest month. This includes the Federal Building records which go back to the 1890s," writes  Dana Felton in the area morning discussion on the National Weather Service website. "The warmest month on record for Seattle is August 1967 with an average temperature of 71.1 degrees. Through the 29th, the average temperature for July is 70.7 degrees. Seattle needs to record an average temperature of at least 76.5 degrees the next two days to break the (1967) record."  That looks likely as forecast highs to wrap up July  for today and tomorrow will both be in the mid 90s.

The HEAT ADVISORY for Lewis, Thurston, Pierce, King and uplands of Snohomish Counties starts at noon today and lasts until 9pm on Saturday.

A RED FLAG WARNING is in effect as well for the Cascades and Cascade foothills for the extreme fire danger.

After a warm winter and record dry spring-- things are tinder dry here in the Pacific Northwest. Low humidity and hot temperatures mean just one spark can cause very large and spreading fires.

The good news is that this unseasonably hot weather this time around only looks to last through the weekend. Nature's air conditioning comes back with some cooler air off the Pacific Ocean next week.

This could mean some temperatures near the normal of 77 for this part of late July.