You can stop with the Juneuary jokes, packing hot chocolate for the beach and firing up the space heater.
Summer is coming. At least for this weekend. And like a fast sports car, it’s going from cool to hot in the blink of an eye.
Hot weather coming
Tuesday was the first day of summer, according to the calendar, but it’s going to take a few days before South Sounders experience it.
In Tacoma, highs will be in the high 60s and low 70s all week before they climb this weekend to temps not seen since 2021, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Seattle.
Olympia’s meteoric climb will begin Friday with a high of 78.
Saturday’s high is forecast for 81 degrees in Tacoma and 85 in Olympia. Sunday’s highs will be 83 and 89 respectively.
Vinny Ballesteros, 4, plays in the water with his toy truck at the spray ground in Wright Park in Tacoma on Monday, June 20, 2022. Cheyenne Boone cboone@thenewstribune.com
Dangerous heat
The NWS said Wednesday that Puget Sound-area residents will face a moderate heat risk Saturday through Monday. People who might be sensitive to heat are urged to stay out of the sun, keep cool and hydrate. Laborers and the elderly are especially at risk.
Homes without air conditioning could become hot.
Washington’s coast, which is usually 10-30 degrees cooler than Puget Sound, still will be in for the warmest weather yet for 2022. Hoquiam is forecast to reach 84 degrees on Sunday, and Quillayute will peak at 80 degrees.
Temperatures will ease a bit on Monday, but Olympia’s high is forecast for 85 and 79 on Tuesday.
The cold is over ... for now
If there’s such a thing as weather whiplash, you might want to hold on to something — preferably an air conditioner.
As spring came to a close Monday, the season ranked as the eighth wettest since record keeping started at SeaTac Airport in 1945, according to NWS meteorologist Carly Kovacik. It also ranked as the fifth coldest in the last half century.
Temperatures should return to normal sometime next week, she said.
“We’ll be back into the 60s, 70s,” Kovacik said. “The one-month outlook for July itself is indicating that we might be a little bit below normal temperature-wise.”
Vegetable gardens suffering
Garden expert Marianne Binetti said Tuesday the prolonged spring has been a boon for ornamental gardens but has stunted vegetable gardens.
All over Western Washington, corn, squash, beans and other heat-loving vegetables have been poking their heads out of the ground and uniformly saying, “Nope.”
“Everybody has to realize it’s the cool nights that have been messing with mostly the vegetables because they are plants that need warm soil,” Binetti said.
Gardeners can replant their vegetable gardens into July, she said.
“Most of the time you’re still going to get a good harvest this summer,” Binetti said.
Ornamentals loving it
The wet and cold spring has cut sales at nurseries, she said, but the planting season for trees, shrubs and perennials has been extended.
“Because the soil is so full of moisture,” Binetti said. “You can also plant roses. You can buy them in full glorious bloom and they’ll transplant quite easily.”
It’s not your imagination that the bloom period of rhododendrons and other spring flowering plants has been extended by the cool weather, she said.
The wet weather has affected one garden icon of the Pacific Northwest — hydrangeas. A breakout of leaf blight is affecting the popular plants. Binetti advises to pluck any yellowing leaves with black spots.
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 11:16 AM.
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Craig Sailor has worked for The News Tribune since 1998 as a writer, editor and photographer. He previously worked at The Olympian and at other newspapers in Nevada and California. He has a degree in journalism from San Jose State University.
