The Last Frontal System for a While and Cold Records

 The satellite picture this afternoon was very fall-like, with a frontal cloud band extending across the northwest portion of the Olympic Peninsula and lots of clouds over British Columbia.   Offshore, the white dots indicate unstable air and convection caused by cold air moving over warmer water.  

The radar image at the same time shows an impressive line of precipitation associated with the front over the Olympic Peninsula, extending both offshore and into BC.  A few light showers over western Washington at that time.

The temperatures during the past week have been unusually low, with many cold records broken.  

At Seattle, the high was only 59F on Friday, nearly 20F below normal.   

Let me show you the locations in Washington, Oregon, and California that broke records for daily record low high temperatures over the past four days (that is breaking the temperature record for a particular day).  Many daily cold records were broken in Washington, but southern Oregon and northern California just decimated previous cold records for those days.

Now breaking daily records is unusual, but you know you have a rare situation when monthly records are broken--and there many monthly records broken during the past four days.  That means colder high temperatures than ANY day of August.  

In Washington State, the monthly records were mainly over the northeastern part of the state, while Oregon's monthly records were in the southern portion.

 But what was really amazing was the massive number of monthly cold records in California....folks this is one for the cold record books.

There was even snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains....wow.

Fortunately,  I have some warming news for you:  a warming trend is predicted for the next week and this weekend should be perfect for outdoor activities or a barbecue!

For Seattle, temperatures will rise to about 80F on Saturday before dropping into the low-80s next week.  Dry conditions.

Warmth will also return to eastern Washington this weekend, with the Tri-Cities heating into the upper 90s, before falling back into the comfortable 80s next week.

All and all, a perfect Labor Day weekend is ahead.  And one with minimal smoke over the region!