Seattle to Break Weather Records: Climate in Chaos
Mother Nature hurled a desperation shot at the buzzer and drained it.
With barely 24 hours to spare to break Seattle’s rainfall record for a single month, it was not just rain but snow, sleet and other unlikely provocations that lifted the level of the city’s official precipitation gauge to a historic high late Wednesday.
By Thursday afternoon, after the record of 15.33 inches of rain, set in December 1933, had been broken, the gauge at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had crept to 15.63 inches.
After a week of wintry weather and frigid temperatures had forced school cancellations, closed roads and knocked out power in places, many residents were pleased to face the return of two inevitable developments, more rain and December, typically the second wettest month in Seattle.
“I’m looking forward to it,†said Joe Susino, 58, after checking for damage from ice and snow on his 30-foot sailboat at Shilshole Bay Marina on Puget Sound. “I prefer the rain.â€
This week it even hailed, and, on Wednesday, it dropped to 18 degrees, a record for the date. An emerging pattern of El Niño suggested warmer temperatures ahead, but if some are ready for the rain to return, others said they savored the variation in the precipitation.
“It wasn’t as gloomy,†said Colleen McAuliffe, after walking her dog, Calvin, and remarking on the snow-white views across Puget Sound.
Her friend Maggie Morrison agreed. “You need a break,†she said. Now, Ms. Morrison said, her focus is on getting past Dec. 21, the winter solstice, when the nights start getting shorter and the days longer.
The sun set at 4:20 p.m. Thursday and was not due to rise until 7:37 a.m. Friday.
“This other friend of mine,†Ms. Morrison said, “she counts off the days between when daylight savings time ends and the solstice, and then she has a party.â€