Thanks to Mike Jensen for sharing that view of a bald eagle hanging out in a tree by Me-Kwa-Mooks Park, watching tonight’s sunset. You might want to identify a shade tree of your own for the next few days, because the National Weather Service has announced a “heat advisory” alert for noon Thursday through 9 pm Saturday – all three days are expected to have high temperatures in the 90s (and Sunday won’t be too far behind).

P.S. If you want a different perspective on 90-degree heat … note that today was the sixth anniversary of the hottest day in recorded Seattle history, when the high hit 103 degrees.

5:24 PM: If you hadn’t noticed it’s been raining for the better part of an hour – the thunder might have startled you. The National Weather Service does have our area under a “short-term forecast” alert, including thunderstorms and possibly even “small hail.” (On the literally bright side, the forecast says sun returns Tuesday and continues through Seafair’s big weekend.)

5:57 PM: Added a photo shared by Lise Thivierge, who says the neighbors were out “celebrating the rain.”

After our area’s biggest day of summer fun – a mesmerizing moonset, with Venus in view. Thanks to David Hutchinson for the view from Alki Beach, above; below, Gary Jones caught a slightly later view from Alki Point:

P.S. You can check the moon phase and moonset/moonrise time (along with sunset/sunrise) any time on the WSB West Seattle Weather page.

(Photo by Lura Ercolano)
A show in the sky as we head into another big weekend of summer fun – with 90ish highs forecast to return.

(Photo by Greg)
Thanks for sharing the photos! (editor@westseattleblog.com)

9:27 PM: As the forest-fire smoke continues to linger, tonight brought another vividly hued sunset. Thanks to James Bratsanos for the photo. Don’t count on a three-peat tomorrow – the National Weather Service‘s forecast discussion says tonight that “the smoke should leave the area Thursday morning as flow aloft becomes more southerly.”

ADDED 9:36 PM: Thanks to Jamie Kinney for this view:

Smoke from fires to the north of us filtered tonight’s sunset in a big way – enough to see sunspots in some of the views we received, including the one by Neal Chism, above. The big pink moon sun was just a disc suspended in the sky for a while, as shown in John Bartell‘s photo …

… until, as shown in Long Bach Nguyen‘s photo below from Gatewood, it edged behind the Olympics:

Long also shared a sunspot view – note the band of smoky haze:

You might recall similar sunset views back in April, when smoke drifted this way from fires in Siberia.

(Photo by James Bratsanos)
A hot-pink sunset starts another hot night. The National Weather Service‘s “heat advisory” alert for our area is now extended until at least 9 pm tomorrow; the NWS also made this observation, “An interesting climate stat: Sea-Tac Airport averages 3 days of 90 degrees or better per year. Today’s high of 93 was the third day of 90-plus this year, and it is only July 2nd.” (An NWS tweet adds that it’s been 80+ for five days in a row, 15 of the last 30.) We’re still in the 80s right now, and it’s after 10 pm; the forecast still says Sunday will be the hottest day of the week, mid-90s.

(Added: Photo by John Hinkey)
P.S. If you have an eastern view, the full moon has risen!

That’s the late-afternoon scene at E.C. Hughes Wading Pool in West Seattle, which opened for the season today; from here on out, it’s the full wading-pool schedule for the rest of the summer. Just in time, too, as the warmer-than-normal weather continues; the National Weather Service has the city under a Heat Advisory until Thursday night, with temperatures potentially reaching into the 90s again tomorrow.

Tonight, no excuse for running pretty sunset photos – no weather alerts, for example – James Bratsanos just happened to share the photos, and with the holiday on the way, a sunset-pic break just feels like the right thing to do before the next few stories we’re working on.

Forecasters now say the 4th of July is expected to get into the mid-80s, cooling a bit from temps that they believe will peak on Thursday in the low 90s.

It’s hot already – 86 degrees at the top of the hour, according to the closest official National Weather Service gauge at Boeing Field, and this isn’t even typically the hottest time of day. But the NWS now verifies it’s going to get hotter, and has issued an Excessive Heat Watch alert for Friday/Saturday – see it here. By Saturday afternoon, it could be into the mid-90s, says the NWS. The mayor’s office, meantime, has published a list of “cooling centers,” including, in West Seattle, the Delridge (5423 Delridge Way SW) and High Point (35th/Raymond) branches of the Seattle Public Library, and the Senior Center of WS (Oregon/California). We’ll be compiling a list of other air-conditioned locations – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!

Thanks to Lynn Hall for capturing the end of the longest day of the year, almost 12 hours after the arrival of summer. Tonight’s sunset came 16 hours after sunrise; now the days start getting a bit shorter, as Alice Enevoldsen explained at last night’s quarterly Solstice Park sunset watch. Most notable in the days ahead: The forecast suggests hotter weather next weekend – upper 80s on Sunday.

(added) Wider shot from Upper Alki, by JayDee:

9:23 PM: Thanks to Jissy for being the first to send a photo of the truly spectacular sunset that’s gracing the northwestern sky right now. We’ll add more if we get them! (editor@westseattleblog.com)

9:41 PM: Thanks to those who’ve tweeted …

… and to those who’ve e-mailed. From Chris Frankovich:

From Darren Pilon, the sunset over the Arbor Heights Elementary construction site:

From Greg Snyder:

From Lynn Hall:

10:14 PM: Still adding – this one came in via text (remember we don’t see names with texts and don’t generally know your phone number on sight, so please mention your name so we can credit you!):

From Don Brubeck via e-mail:

And from Kristin Widman, taken at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor):

Adding a few more when we get back to the keyboard in a bit – been dealing with breaking news.

12:37 AM: And two from beach level – this is from Paula G:

And from Jeremiah:

P.S. Speaking of sunsets … Saturday night, it’s Solstice Sunset Watch with Alice Enevoldsen, 8:45 pm at Solstice Park.

(Thanks to Karl for the rainbow photo from Westwood Village)
4:53 PM: Yes, that was thunder, as a storm cell moves through the area – we saw a big bright bolt of lightning a bit northwest of us a few beats before the boom. No special weather alerts but the forecast overall did warn of a chance of thunderstorms.

5:13 PM: Longtime WSB’er “MetPatrick” is watching the charts and warns of another one that appears to be headed this way.

6:21 PM: Did you catch the hail (ice pellets) and downpour? If you use the Periscope livestreaming app, be sure to follow @westseattleblog – we were experimenting during all that. Meantime, thanks to everyone who’s sent rainbow photos – we’re adding a few here!

Tonight, the photo’s by Jamie Kinney, from the second consecutive night with a pink/red-ball sunset whose cause is no longer a mystery – the National Weather Service pointed out a NASA update showing the plume of smoke crossing the Pacific from fires in Siberia.

(WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
8:33 PM: So many beautiful sunsets – but seldom one quite like tonight, with the sun seemingly suspended high in the sky, intensifying pink against a backdrop of gray, as it slowly slid toward the Olympics.

9:22 PM: Thanks for sharing photos! Laura‘s view from over Beach Drive included the reflection of the sun’s color from high in the sky:

From Don Brubeck, what it looked like a bit further down:

ADDED 10:12 PM: From Neal Chism, another view of the sun at its most-intense color:

The photo above is by “Diver Laura” James, one of several people who sent pics of the phenomenon in Tuesday’s sunset sky. Thanks also to JayDee and to Kerry, who described it, aptly, as: “Amazing clouds over West Seattle tonight!”

2:38 PM: We weren’t sure that was thunder until we got up from the desk and looked out to the southwest. Storm moving in! Checking the National Weather Service to see how long (or short) it might be. (Added) Forecast for the afternoon does say “possibly a thunderstorm.”

3:35 PM: And as is so typical for spring weather … now, even as rain continues, a sunbreak is moving our way from the same direction that yielded the big boom earlier.

7:13 PM: Thanks to Patrick for tweeting this photo of a between-showers rainbow:

One night after the eclipse, two photographers caught the full moon on the rise with a vantage point toward Harbor Island – above, David Hutchinson; below, Chris Frankovich.

We appreciate photo contributions – editor@westseattleblog.com or share via the WSB Flickr group!

8:36 PM: Thanks to Ramona (who also sent the photo) and Matt for the tip – a slide is covering part of Fairmount Avenue, near SW Hill (toward the north end of Fairmount; here’s a map). We’re hearing Seattle Fire crews heading to check out a slide report in that area right now – not sure if it’s the same one, since as you can tell from the photo, this slide happened before nightfall.

9:22 PM: The SFD response closed fairly quickly. Slides are causing trouble elsewhere in the region, too, blocking rail travel between Seattle and Everett, and also blocking part of a road in the Southworth area, on the other side of the ferry route from Fauntleroy. The rain is expected to ease overnight.

10:59 PM: New problem (via scanner): Vehicles reported to be stalled in water across West Marginal Way at Highland Park Way – frequent trouble spot in heavy rain, with runoff down the HP Way hill and from the West Duwamish Greenbelt. Police are on the way.

11:07 PM: Police are also at another flooded section of West Marginal, 6300 block (map), and closing it in both directions.

Sights tonight, shared by community contributors – above, Danny McMillin caught sunset colors over Mount Washington toward the south end of the Olympics; below, the rising moon, photographed by Chris Frankovich:

By the way, Daylight Saving Time returns one week from tonight – 2 am Sunday, March 8th, we’ll spring forward to 3 am.

Thanks to everyone sharing photos! First one’s from a flyover this afternoon:

John Bartell sent that photo tonight, showing the military jets that flew over northeastern West Seattle around 2:15 pm. We happened to see them from North Delridge. In the hours since, we’ve looked around and asked around and haven’t found any specific reason for the flyover. (Please comment if YOU know – thanks!) John also photographed tonight’s beautiful sunset, which many might have missed since the Oscars were on by then:

That’s from the Brace Point area. Meantime, near High Point, Yma photographed the sunset through bubbles.

No major chance of rain in the forecast until Thursday.

Thanks for tonight’s sunset views – the one above is courtesy of MM, and we’ll add a few more – as Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) concludes colorfully.

(Added above – photo by Lynn Hall.) Forecast now suggests the rain won’t return until Thursday.

(Photo by Chris Frankovich)
6:19 PM: Today’s temperature set a record (59 at Sea-Tac) – and as we hope you got to see firsthand, was followed by sunset beauty. We’ll be adding a few more photos soon – thanks for sharing!

ADDED 7:19 PM: Thanks to Megan Jasper for this one:

And from JayDee:

One more sunny day tomorrow, and even warmer, says the forecast.