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The weather in February and March changed that.
“You take advantage of days like this when you can get them this time of year,” she said Friday as she munched on salad while sitting on a park bench near Capitol Lake. “You start looking for opportunities to go outside.”
Today might be the first day of spring, but Estes and others in South Sound have been enjoying spring-like weather for more than a month.
And residents of Western Washington can continue to expect higher-than-average temperatures this spring, after a winter that had its ups and downs.
“It’s kind of a tale of two winters,” said Dennis D’Amico, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
A wet November, and a dry and cold December preceded the start of winter. January was half-wet and half-dry, but an unseasonably warm February is what most Washingtonians will remember, D’Amico said.
“Basically, everything really shut off and we had some really warm stretches in there,” he said.
Seattle recorded its third-warmest average winter temperature at 45.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest, 46.3 F, was recorded in 1992. The average winter temperature at the Olympia Airport, 42.4 degrees, was the sixth-highest since the National Weather Service began recording temperatures in 1948. The highest, 44.4, was recorded in 1981. Maximum temperature averages also were a lot higher than normal, D’Amico said.
These record-approaching numbers can be deceptive, he said.
“The winter dates do not take into account the cold snap we had in December,” he said.
D’Amico said that the warmer weather can be attributed to El Niño, a climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean.
D’Amico said forecasters are unsure whether the lack of precipitation will continue this spring. The city of Olympia had 4.53 inches of rain in February, 73 percent of the average.
Scattered showers throughout next week will give Western Washington a precipitation boost, D’Amico said, but guessing the spring water levels is a difficult task.
“They just don’t have a clear idea on what’s going to happen,” he said. “One thing that they have high confidence in is that temperature averages will be higher than normal.”
Estes welcomed news of warmer weather in the months ahead.
“I’m always excited to see summer coming,” she said. “I love anytime when you are getting out of winter.”
