July 2018 was the WARMEST on record



SEATTLE -- July 2018 finished up as the warmest July on record, if you average the afternoon highs for the month.

The average of all the high temps for July 2018 was 82.8 degrees. This narrowly beat the previous record of 82.6 set back in 2015. July 2018 was also the second warmest month ever. The hottest month for SeaTac was August of 1967 when the average high was 83.7 degrees.

If you take the average temperature of the month -- which means averaging the afternoon highs and the morning lows -- July 2018 was the second warmest at 70.65 degrees, not quite reaching the 2015 record of 71.2 degrees.

These records are not because we had the highest highs ever. We didn't get near the 103 set back on July 29, 2009. The hottest day of the month was July 29th when we hit 94. But, we had 7 days at 90+, and we tied the record for consecutive days at 85 or above -- 9 days, from July 22 to July 30.

It was also very dry. July itself wasn't the driest July on record, but we have just wrapped up the driest May-June-July stretch ever with only 0.80 inches of rain for that 3-month period.

Gardeners are noticing this and even suggesting that we water our native tall evergreens, like the Douglas Fir, because these native giants are showing drought stress!




Happily, we are starting August on a cooler note with even a little bit of rain in the forecast.