Seattle Closes Out July as Driest Since 1960

By Anthony Sagliani, Meteorologist

August 01,2013; 10:51AM,EDT

 

 

It's tough to actually receive zero percent of normal rainfall during a given month, but with only a trace of rain falling at Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport this past July, that is exactly what happened.
While technically a trace of rain is some precipitation, its official definition is "rainfall measuring less than 0.01 of an inch." That means if only three drops of rain fall from the sky, there was still a trace of rainfall.
The average amount of rain for the entire month of July in Seattle is 0.70 of an inch. The trace amount that fell during July 2013 was the least amount of rainfall during any July since 1960.

August will start off with a few widely separated showers around the Seattle area through Friday, but most places will not see any rainfall.
If no measurable rainfall is observed through Friday, a strong ridge of high pressure building overhead will all but ensure the streak of dry weather will persist well into August.
Unfortunately, the dry conditions will continue to allow fuel for massive wildfires across the West, especially if gusty winds are stirred.
According to Inciweb, the Colockum Tarps fire is burning out of control southwest of Malaga, Wash. A total of 70,000 acres have been scorched by the blaze as of early Thursday, after igniting on Saturday, July 27, 2013. The fire is only 25 percent contained. Due to erratic fire growth, evacuations have been changing rapidly.