Rain puts a damper on South Sound’s August, but Labor Day to feel more like summer again
The Olympia and Tacoma areas have gotten more rain that usual this cool August, but the forecast for Labor Day weekend is looking like a return to summer weather.
The National Weather Service in Seattle measured about 1.38 inches of rain in the Olympia area this month as of Wednesday. That’s nearly twice the normal of about 0.83 inches, but still falls far short of the record 5.45 inches that fell in the month of August in 1968.
The most rain fell on Olympia on Aug. 17. NWS data shows 0.58 inches fell that day, making it a new record for the date. The lowest temperature this month was 42 degrees on Wednesday, which was about 7 degrees below normal, the data shows.
Kayla Mazurkiewicz, a NWS meteorologist, told The Olympian that high temperatures have been about 10 degrees cooler than normal over the last week.
“It’s just because the patterns that we’ve been having set up have been more like fall systems,” Mazurkiewicz said. “Usually, August is one of our sunnier months, but it’s just the way the cookie crumbled at that point.”
People in the Tacoma area saw the most precipitation on Aug. 20 when about 0.42 inches fell, according to the data. This was much higher than the 0.03 inches normal for that date, but it fell short of the 2008 record of 0.66 inches.
So far, the Tacoma area has gotten about 1.14 inches of rain as of Wednesday, which is higher than the normal 0.72 inches. A record 2.87 inches of rain fell during the complete August month of 1991, the data shows.
Mazurkiewicz said the Olympia area tends to be wetter than the Tacoma area due to its location south of the Olympic Peninsula.
Looking ahead, Mazurkiewicz said the Olympia area will see highs in the mid 80s and lows in the upper 50s through Sunday. The forecast for Labor Day shows a high in the upper 70s and a low in the upper 50s.
“The weekend will generally be nice, like a return back to summer weather, if you so call it,” Mazurkiewicz said. “Just be safe and enjoy the warm temperatures while you can.”
Meanwhile, the Tacoma area will see slightly cooler temperatures with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s through Sunday. The high for Labor Day is expected to be about 69 degrees, according to the forecast.
On Wednesday, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz asked the public to do their part to prevent wildfires during the Labor Day weekend.
“Fire season is not over. Over the 2020 Labor Day weekend, more than 500,000 acres of land burned in just 36 hours,” Franz said in a news release.
“We’ve seen firsthand that a single spark, in the right conditions, can make or break an entire fire season. Let’s ensure we’re not that spark this holiday weekend.”
Thurston County still has a countywide burn ban in effect through Sept. 30. The ban restricts outdoor yard waste burning and all land clearing burns.
Recreational fires are still allowed on private residential properties and in established fire rings within official county, state and federal campgrounds, according to the county.
