5:07 PM: The bird photographed by Jerry Simmons had the right idea – a quick dunk to cool off. You’re going to have to keep the stay-cool tactics going – though temperatures will drop a bit after tomorrow, not that much, so the National Weather Service has just extended the Excessive Heat Warning alert an extra day, until 11 pm Tuesday. 90s are expected for the high that day, not 100+ like yesterday/today/tomorrow, but it might feel that way: “Temperatures lingering in the upper 90s on Tuesday with potentially dangerously hot heat index values up to 111.” Here again are our key links (with updated information:

Places to cool off, including air-conditioned libraries and restaurants/bars, plus “cooling centers” and wading pools

Restaurants changing their hours or closing because of heat danger

The city’s status update says, “Water and electricity usage remain within normal operations for utilities.” But if you are a Monday solid-waste customer, the plan for Monday has changed again: Trash/recycling crews will be out an hour earlier, as previously announced, so have those carts out at 6 am, but food/yard waste will NOT be picked up Monday (no word yet on the makeup plan – we’ll update when that info is available).

6:10 PM: SPU has now announced its Tuesday pickups will start an hour early, too – details here, and below:

P.S. Today’s high was 104 at Sea-Tac – the new all-time highest temperature on record in Seattle – but that’s a record that forecasters say is certain to fall tomorrow.

(Photo by Carolyn Oleary)

We are now officially under the National Weather Service‘s Excessive Heat Warning alert. Last night we asked for help building a list of places to stay cool. This will be the ongoing list – so here’s what we have to start with – please comment or email/text with additions!

PUBLIC/SEMI-PUBLIC FACILITIES AND OTHER CENTERS

Delridge Branch Library (5423 Delridge Way SW)
(updated) Open from noon to 6 pm Sunday, 10 am-6 pm Monday

High Point Branch Library (3411 SW Raymond)
Open noon to 6 pm Sunday  (ADDED: SPL says this branch will open this Monday, 10 am-6 pm, too)

Salvation Army in South Delridge – day center for people experiencing homelessness (9050 16th Ave. SW)
11 am-7 pm Saturday-Tuesday

(added) Morgan Junction community space next to and run by HeartBeet Café and Youngstown Coffee, 6030 California SW

Our new seating space next to HeartBeet Cafe and Youngstown has AC, iced water, and a bathroom. Open 8 am to 8 pm. We will keep the doors open to this space but our cafe and coffee shop may be closed. Trained chill dogs are welcome in our space as well.

Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon)
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Mondays – Fridays

(added) West Seattle YMCA (36th/Snoqualmie; WSB sponsor)
Open as a cooling center only, 7 am-7 pm Monday

West Seattle Christian Church Gym (4400 42nd SW)
Open Sunday and Monday (June 27-28) for the hottest days, 12:30 pm-5 pm. WSCC’s Worth Wheeler says:

We will have socially distanced seating set up and a limited supply of bottled water available as well. We will ask that everyone wear masks for the sake of unvaccinated kids and youth, and those at higher risk. We will also be following the guidance for larger gatherings. Sanitizer and disposable masked will be available, 2 people in bathroom at a time, etc. Neighbors are welcome to bring activities, games, crafts, etc to keep themselves entertained. They can also bring their own lunch/picnic/snacks as well. Any other local restaurants/businesses that might want to donate kid-friendly drinks, snacks, treats, or crafts are welcome!

White Center Cooling Center (206 SW 112th)
Available for those who need overnight shelter from the heat – details on our partner site White Center Now

—-RESTAURANTS/BARS WITH AIR CONDITIONING—-

ADMIRAL PUB

BEER JUNCTION

BEST OF HANDS BARRELHOUSE

BEVERIDGE PLACE PUB

BIZZARRO ITALIAN CAFE (White Center)

BOX BAR

THE BRIDGE

CAFE MIA

CORNER POCKET (4302 SW Alaska) – 3 pm-midnight – underground AND air-conditioned

DUKE’S ON ALKI

FRESHY’S

GREAT AMERICAN DINER

HAYMAKER RESTAURANT

LADY JAYE

LARRY’S TAVERN

MISSING PIECE

MOD PIZZA (both West Seattle locations)

PECOS PIT

strong>PEEL & PRESS

PEGASUS PIZZA

—-OTHER BUSINESSES WITH AIR CONDITIONING—-

ADMIRAL THEATER (2343 California SW), cool treats as well as cool seats – afternoon/evening showtimes daily

FOGUE GALLERY (4130 California SW), open noon-5 pm Friday/Saturday/Sunday

WEST SEATTLE COWORKING (6040 California SW), open this weekend with day passes available – email manager@westseattlecoworking.com

—-CITY-RUN POOLS/SPRAYPARKS—-

Colman Pool (at Lincoln Park, 8011 Fauntleroy Way SW)
Daily noon-7 pm

Highland Park spraypark (1100 SW Cloverdale) – Open 7 days a week (started 6/26), 11 am-8 pm, as planned

Delridge wading pool (4501 Delridge Way SW) – Open 11 am-5:30 pm Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays

Lincoln Park wading pool (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW) – Open noon-7 pm Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays

PUBLIC DRINKING FOUNTAINS

Seattle Public Utilities says two are open in West Seattle business districts:

4598 California SW
6501 California SW

Bookmark this page or use our Share This feature below to send yourself the link – we’ll continue adding/updating throughout this heat wave! And once again – additions welcome, email westseattleblog@gmail.com or text 206-293-6302

(Photo by Jerry Simmons)

You’ve been hearing about it for days, and now that the heat wave is closer, the National Weather Service has upgraded its alert to an Excessive Heat Warning, in effect 2 pm Friday through 9 pm Monday. And the Sunday/Monday forecasts have added a few more degrees – here are the next four days, daypart by daypart:

FRIDAY…Sunny. Highs in the 80s. North wind 10 to 15 mph.

FRIDAY NIGHT…Clear. Lows in the mid to upper 60s. North wind 10 to 15 mph decreasing to 10 mph or less after midnight.

SATURDAY…Sunny. Highs in the 90s. North wind to 10 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.

SATURDAY NIGHT…Clear. Lows near 70. North wind 10 to 15 mph becoming northeast after midnight.

SUNDAY…Sunny. Highs 98 to 104.

SUNDAY NIGHT…Clear. Lows in the lower to mid 70s.

MONDAY…Sunny. Highs 100 to 106.

Seattle’s all-time record high was 103 degrees on July 29, 2009 – here’s what happened on that day (including a house fire and an overcome-by-the-heat boater).

Since many Seattle houses/apartments don’t have air conditioning, it’s always a hot question when the weather gets mega-hot: Where can you go to cool off? We’re asking for your help in building a definitive list of where to go, considering that not all venues have reopened (yet). The city has started it off with this roundup – including:

Delridge Branch Library (5423 Delridge Way SW)
Open from 10 am to 6 pm Mondays and Wednesdays 

High Point Branch Library (3411 SW Raymond)
Open from 10 am to 6 pm Wednesdays and Fridays; noon to 6 p.m. Sundays 

Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon)
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Mondays – Fridays

If you have a suggestion – please comment below or email us at westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

P.S. Two more city notes from the roundup – Seattle Public Utilities will close the transfer stations (including South) at 2 pm Sunday and Monday. Also, solid-waste pickup on Monday will be an hour earlier – so have your carts out at 6 am.

Thanks to Lynn Hall for the photo taken from the Bremerton ferry, looking back at Alki and downtown. A ferry ride will be one way to beat the heat that the National Weather Service warns us is on the way. The NWS has issued an Excessive Heat Watch alert for Friday afternoon through Monday afternoon. The alert says in part that we are likely to see “dangerously hot conditions with afternoon highs in the 90s and possibly near 100 Saturday and Sunday.” If your family includes little kids, two wading pools and a spraypark are opening just in time, starting Saturday. We will highlight other stay-cool options in the days ahead.

Once the rain stopped this evening, fog started seeping over nearby islands. Above, that’s Bainbridge Island in David Hutchinson‘s photo from Alki; below, our peek view of Vashon Island from the Gatewood/Fauntleroy line:

More rain might be on the way, but we’ve already set a June 13th record – .68 of an inch measured at Sea-Tac, breaking the old half-inch record set in 1946.

P.S. Summer is exactly one week away – the solstice moment is 8:31 pm next Sunday (June 20th).

Thanks to Ted for the photo. Breezy weather has brought down branches at the south end of Admiral Way just north of the West Seattle Bridge. Forecast says it’ll be even breezier – with gusts up to 30 mph – tonight.

(Saturday photo by James Bratsanos)

Checking on weather for tomorrow and beyond … the National Weather Service says 80s are still on the way, but not until after the holiday. Memorial Day’s forecast is sunny and 70s; then Tuesday and Wednesday could get into the mid-80s. (Today’s high was 73, four degrees above the usual high for this date.)

5:22 PM: Don’t let the sunbreaks fool you. We’ve had hail (or some form of icy precipitation) within this past half-hour, and now a loud clap of thunder. The forecast for this evening does include a “slight chance of thunderstorms.” An overall ongoing chance of showers continues until Friday.

9:13 PM: The weather’s calmed a bit – still raining off and on. Added a photo by Jerry Simmons, pre-dusk rainbow sighting.

10:30 PM: Two more photos – this one by Theresa Arbow-O’Connor:

And this one by Beth Davis:

Unless you’re a very early riser – sunrise today was at 5:38 am – you’re missing views like that, so thanks to photographer Jerry Simmons for sharing what he saw as the new week dawned. The current outlook is for sunshine every day this week, thanks to a ridge of high pressure, says the National Weather Service.

(From Nancy via Twitter)

You knew it couldn’t last forever. But it ended with a splash … of color – a beautiful sunset to wrap up our long stretch of early summer. We’re not using the word glibly – the National Weather Service says the average high temperature this past week was 75.7 degrees, exactly the normal average high for July 11th-17th.

(From Bob Burns)

Earlier in the day, another hint of changing weather – fog:

(from Mike Burns)

(From Lura Ercolano)

Tomorrow’s forecast, mostly cloudy, maybe making it into the 60s, and by Friday night, the rain is expected to return.

Thanks to Jim Borrow for two memorable views of clouds from Alki – above, early this morning, and below, last night.

Jim notes that the top formation is known as Kelvin-Helmholtz – we featured a daylight view of a similar formation last spring. Here’s why they form.

Meantime, the other weather note of the night – it’ll be colder than normal again, with more frosted windshields expected tomorrow morning (the Sea-Tac low was 34, seven degrees below normal for this date)

(Photo by David Hutchinson)

After 5+ blustery hours, the weather has calmed, without reports power outages or downed trees this time around. The National Weather Service says it’ll stay breezy for the hours ahead – and dark clouds on the horizon suggest the rain might return – but one thing has vanished from the forecast – the mention of possible snow mixed in. The weather is getting drier faster than predicted, and should be clear by the early morning hours, when temperatures will drop into the 30s. And then – sunshine is on the way,

It’s charge-everything time – the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory alert for our area (the taupe area on the map above), expecting strong wind noon-6 pm Sunday: The prediction is for “southwest winds 25 to 35 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph.” Rain is forecast for much of the day, and believe it or not, some snow might be mixed in tomorrow night!

(Today’s sunrise – photo by Jim Borrow)

As springish as the past few days seemed – with Saturday’s temperature hitting 60 – winter isn’t officially over until next Saturday, and the forecast for late tonight/early tomorrow warns we might see a bit of snow. The temperature’s already dropped into the upper 30s by our gauge – official 7 pm temp at Boeing Field is 40. (Forecasters insist, “No snow accumulation.”)

Thanks to JayDee for the photo – tonight brought the second-to-last sunset of Standard Time, with Daylight Saving Time arriving tomorrow night (technically Sunday morning, 2 am “springs forward” to 3 am). More sunshine is in the forecast for tomorrow, and another high near 60 – today hit 57.

While we’re working on the rest of the day’s news – a quick look at a striking sight this morning: Before the clouds move back in, the Olympic Mountains are out in all their snow-coated glory. The photos – by Kyle Reichenbach, above, and David Hutchinson, below, focus on the Olympic peaks known as The Brothers.

Fun fact: The Brothers have a West Seattle connection – according to this infopage from the Washington Trails Association, the peaks are named after Edward and Arthur Fauntleroy, members of the same family whose name graces a West Seattle neighborhood. Their highest point is 6,842 feet.

Thanks to Lorabeth for sending the photo! As she described it, we have seen some “dramatic” weather this afternoon – and it might not be over yet. The updated forecast includes a chance of thunderstorms tonight. If you’re longing for sunshine, some of that may show up tomorrow.

P.S. Almost forgot to mention – tonight is the first 6 pm sunset of the year. (And it’ll be after 7 pm soon, with Daylight Saving Time arriving at 2 am March 14th, when we’ll “spring forward” an hour.

Thanks for the texted/tweeted photos of the hail/thunder shower that just moved through (the scene above is from Highland Park).

Brad shows us these weren’t just little ice pellets:

Hard to believe, but tomorrow’s forecast is still “mostly sunny.” Then again, it was a promising sunset, as Marc Milrod‘s photo shows: