Yes, Sunday was a cooker: It reached 100 at Paine Field

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 17, 2020

EVERETT — The 100 degrees recorded at Paine Field Sunday was not only the toastiest temperature of the year, it was the hottest in more than a decade.

The National Weather Service in Seattle has used the Snohomish County airport as a site to monitor conditions since the mid-1990s. While not an official weather station for long-term climate studies, it does provide a snapshot of local readings.

The Paine Field site previously reached 100 during a 2009 heat wave, said Gary Schneider, a meteorologist for the Weather Service in Seattle.

“That was a multi-day heat wave,” Schneider said of 2009. “This was a rapid warm-up and a relatively decent cool-down.”

The triple digits were reached at Paine Field at 4:53 p.m. Sunday. At Arlington Municipal Airport, the temperature hit 99 at 3:56 p.m.

It turned out Paine Field wasn’t Western Washington’s hottest spot among National Weather Service monitoring sites Sunday.

That distinction belonged to the Chehalis-Centralia Airport, where it reached 102. It also reached 100 in Olympia.

A cooler place was Oak Harbor, where the high at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station was 81.

By Sunday evening, there were a few claps of thunder in parts of Snohomish County and some teasing, fleeting rain.

The weather in Snohomish County is expected to cool over the next few days from what was an expected high of 85 in Everett on Monday to the high 70s, with a chance of showers by Thursday.

Eastern Washington wasn’t due for the same relief.

On Monday, the Weather Service was describing “dangerously hot conditions” with high temperatures up to 104 degrees. The weather agency was warning of “prolonged daytime heat with little night time cooling” that would significantly increase the potential for heat-related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities.

Eric Stevick: stevick@heraldnet.com.