A period of hot weather brought very warm temperatures to the interior of Western Washington, helping to set a few record maximum temperatures.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
A period of hot weather brought very warm temperatures to the interior of Western Washington, helping to set a few record maximum temperatures.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 17, 7:31 PM PST, 4 hours 29 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Seattle WA
831 PM PDT Wed Aug 17 2022
.SYNOPSIS...An upper level ridge is continuing to build into the
Pacific Northwest providing a noticeable warm up today and into
Thursday for Western Washington. Temperatures will be cooler into
the weekend thanks to the upper level ridge shifting more inland.
An upper level low then looks to move through the area early next
week, with another upper level ridge looking to build back into
the region in its wake.
&&
.SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/...No major forecast updates
this evening, other than to adjust the cloud cover forecast to
more accurately reflect some mid level clouds coming into the area
from the south. Otherwise, the forecast remains on track and the
previous AFD can be found below.
Kristell
Satellite imagery once
again shows another sunny day across Western Washington. Thanks to
the upper level ridge building throughout our area, that will be
the producer of our hot temperatures for the next two days.
Temperatures will climb into the mid 80s and low 90s for portions
of the interior today. 850mb temperatures look to be climbing
into the 20-25C range later today and look to stay that way into
Thursday. Heat Advisories and Excessive Heat warnings remain in
effect through Thursday.
Thursday will be the hottest day of the week, with temperatures
ranging mostly from the mid 80s to mid 90s in the interior. The
hottest temperatures will reside in the valleys of the Cascades,
close to 100 in a few places.
Some of the guidance and models are showing some mid-level
instability within the Cascade mountains and are picking up on a
slight thunder threat for Thursday night into Friday morning.
Although there is insufficient moisture present, have included a
slight chance of thunder for areas along the Cascade crest due to
hot and unstable conditions. If storms do form, they will be high
based storms and not last very long.
Temperatures will return near seasonal norms on Friday and into
the weekend as a upper level trough approaches Western Washington.
This trough will support a deepening of the marine layer and
strengthening low level onshore flow, cooling temps at least from
Thursday's highs. Drizzle is possible along the coast in the
morning. There is a slight chance of thunderstorms in the Cascades
Friday evening due to more moisture pushing up from the south.
Low level onshore flow continuing Saturday with the upper level
trough still in the vicinity keeping temperatures around seasonal
norms.
.LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...Temperatures will continue
to stay around seasonal norms for the beginning of the week
thanks to an upper level trough moving through Western Washington.
With that, an upper level low will provide unstable southerly
flow into Monday. This pattern proves to be favorable for some
convection over the Cascades, but guidance and models continue to
trend dry for now.
Ensembles indicate another upper level ridge building into our
region midweek, which will promote another warm up. Beyond the
extended 8 to 14 day outlook, there is a good chance for above
normal temperatures.
Mazurkiewicz
&&
.AVIATION...An upper level ridge continues to build over the area
with flow aloft mainly from the south.
Some high clouds building into the area overnight, but
no significant impacts to aviation expected. Low level marine clouds
and IFR cigs likely to emerge overnight for coastal locations but
are not expected to make any progress eastward beyond that. VFR
conditions with only high clouds expected again Thursday.
18/Johnson
KSEA...VFR conditions throughout the TAF period. Some high level
clouds this evening but minimal impact expected. Winds remaining
northerly with speeds 6-12 kts during the afternoon and early
evening before easing slightly to 4-8 kts tonight into Thursday.
18/Johnson
&&
.MARINE...Brief window of small craft advisory level
conditions this evening will end around midnight.Onshore flow will
strengthen Thursday night and Friday as marine air pushes into
Western Washington with a small craft advisory westerly winds
possible over the outer coastal waters and in the Strait of Juan de
Fuca by Friday night. Daily westerly flow during the afternoon and
evening throughout the weekend and into the start of next week may
need additional headlines as well.
Seas typically 2 to 4 ft today before increasing slightly to 3 to 5
ft Thursday and remaining there at least into the weekend. 18/Johnson
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...Critical Fire Weather Conditions remain in place
for Cascades zones 658 and 659 through tomorrow. A red flag
warning is out for the aforementioned areas due to dry and
unstable conditions. Minimum RH values Thursday will be between 15
and 20% for the remainder of today and tomorrow afternoon. There
will only be moderate RH recoveries during the overnight period
(40-50%) for the warned zones. While the atmosphere is unstable,
there is little moisture in the air that would support
thunderstorm development. Conditions elsewhere remain dry but
above critical thresholds. Improving conditions expected over the
weekend with cooler and moister air associated with a shortwave
moving through. However, there will once again be elevated
concerns for the start of next week due to the potential for
isolated thunderstorms.
Butwin
&&
.HYDROLOGY...The daily hydrology discussion has ended until the
start of the next rainy season; it will only be updated as needed
until then.
&&
.CLIMATE...Wednesday is the 4th day in a row with a high 80
degrees plus in Seattle. There is a chance even with the cool down
Friday into the weekend that high temperatures in Seattle will
remain at or above 80 degrees for the next week. With the 8 to 14
day outlook indicating above normal temperatures there is a chance
that Seattle could break the record for consecutive days with
highs 80 degrees plus. The current record is 15 days ( June 25th
through July 9th, 2015 and July 30th through August 13th, 1977 ).
Felton
&&
.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...Heat Advisory until midnight PDT Thursday night for Bellevue and
Vicinity-Bremerton and Vicinity-East Puget Sound Lowlands-
Everett and Vicinity-Hood Canal Area-Lower Chehalis Valley
Area-Seattle and Vicinity-Southwest Interior-Tacoma Area-
Western Skagit County-Western Whatcom County.
Excessive Heat Warning until midnight PDT Thursday night for
West Slopes North Cascades and Passes-West Slopes North
Central Cascades and Passes-West Slopes South Central
Cascades and Passes.
Red Flag Warning until 10 PM PDT Thursday for West Slopes of the
Central Cascades Generally above 1500 Feet-West Slopes of
the North Cascades Generally above 1500 Feet.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory until midnight PDT tonight for Coastal
Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island 10 To 60 Nm-
Coastal Waters From James Island To Point Grenville 10 To
60 Nm-Coastal Waters From James Island To Point Grenville
Out 10 Nm-Coastal Waters From Point Grenville To Cape
Shoalwater 10 To 60 Nm-Coastal Waters From Point Grenville
To Cape Shoalwater Out 10 Nm.
&&
www.weather.gov/seattle1 heat, 1 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.
The ASOS at the Olympia airport recorded a record max temperature of 96 degrees. This beats the previous record of 94 set in 1981.
An observation site at Diablo Dam in the North Cascades set a record high temperature of 103 degrees on August 18. An excessive heat warning was in effect during this time. Hot conditions persisted into the 19th, with a high temperature of 93 degrees but this did not break a record.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, August 2022
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1055402, 1055459.