“Chicken Run” rainout
Even in Seattle, who in the world could imagine that if you wait till late July to schedule an outdoor-movie series, the first one would be rained out? Well, it happened in The Junction tonight; sign on the gate @ Hotwire says “Chicken Run” is rescheduled to Friday, August 10th.
And to all a good night
Now, the real challenge: Sleeping in a house that hasn’t let go of the afternoon heat yet. In case you face a similar challenge, here are three final photos for the day. First, the incredible neon sunset, photographed from the top of Gatewood Hill:
Next, a view of Duwamish Head before the sun went down, photographed by Bill Barna:
And from 35th and Roxbury, a tropical — and appropriate — window decoration.
OK, off now to stuff ice cubes in the pillowcase …
Exactly six months ago today
Are we SURE we really want to whine about the heat (97 at the official gauge at Sea-Tac as of 4 pm, a new record for this date)? Consider what had hit us half a year ago (photo from Upper Fauntleroy, Jan. 11, 2007):
Even cooler pix
People in WSB-land who haven’t passed out from heat exhaustion yet (78 at midnight! 12 degrees above San Diego!) were nice enough to send photos that might cool you off a degree or two.
First, from Luckie, a “party island” spotted off Alki on pirate day:
Second, from Jerry at JetCityOrange, a decorated tree in the window at Sleep Country in Westwood Village (we’re sorry we didn’t snap the inflatable snowman we saw the other day at Renton Honda, would have been a nice accompaniment):
Send us your pics, thoughts, tips, rumors, whatever, anytime.
There’s always eBay
If you’re still in the market for a fan or air conditioner you’re not completely out of luck, but you’re running out of choices.
Here’s the mini-AC shelf at the Delridge Home Depot as seen just before noon.
And as of lunchtime this is what the fan aisle at Target looks like.
All heat wave, all the time: Lunchtime update
According to the National Weather Service hourly temperature updates (KSEA is Sea-Tac, KBFI is Boeing Field, K91S is Alki Point but only shows windspeed, no temps; we’ll link to some personal weather stations later) — it’s about 80. Going for low 90s in the city but tomorrow’s in-city forecast alarmingly suggests possible upper 90s. Stay safe. For those of you pondering a movie to keep cool in those brutal early-evening hours, “Blades of Glory” at the Admiral at 6:45 pm might be just the ticket.
Scenes from a heat wave, morning edition
8:20 am, 70-plus degrees. Workers at Westwood Village Target are joking about someone interviewed on tv last night about how fast fans and air conditioning units are selling. They seem more impressed by how fast the interview went – five minutes distilled into five seconds.
At the front counter, a clerk is ringing up the first fan sale of the day. Out in the parking lot, closer to WaMu, a work crew is kicking up a dirt devil. And over Barton Street, looking east, the sun looks like 8 am Vegas more than 8 am Seattle:
Defeat the heat
Surely you’ve heard by now that the next couple of days will be ridiculously hot. That means discomfort will skyrocket with the temperatures, since most of us don’t have air conditioning and just aren’t acclimated to 90-plus degrees. 
But we don’t all have to pack ourselves onto the sands of Alki to stay cool. We thought it would be worth discussing alternatives in advance; for starters, we managed to cope with the last megahot spell by taking a late-afternoon walk through Schmitz Park (photo @ right). The trees of Lincoln Park, Camp Long, and other green zones in WS can do the same trick. (You can follow up a walk through LP with a dip in Colman Pool, which is open through the peak of the heat, till 7 pm.) Got a heat-beating tip to share with the rest of WSB-land?
Wacky weather
We all know that spring and early summer in Seattle can bring days interspersing sun and rain, but we can’t remember having seen it change quite as often and as dramatically as today … or perhaps the fact we were out on a very long walk from south WS to north WS heightened our experience … Here’s a photo from Alki during the 4 pm deluge (including a few hailstones too fleeting to catch with the camera):
No sunset, but …
… an hour or so after that evening cloudburst, this oddly creased cloud formation turned up in the eastern sky (view from Westwood). Can’t find any clue as to its meteorological backstory.
Lucky (sun)break
What a surprise to wake up to sunshine. Honestly, when we filed the post below, late last night, this page insisted we’d wake up to clouds and showers. Now it says “mostly sunny” all day. Glad they were wrong!
The floodwater’s gone, the trouble isn’t
When you hear “last December’s storm,” you probably think wind (and powerlessness). But some think first of the fast, furious rainstorm that preceded the wind, created the Upper Fauntleroy sinkhole (bridged but still not filled), and swept floodwater through some WS homes. The homeowners with flood damage are still trying to get things set right; one homeowner has e-mailed us to say they’re organizing a West Seattle flood victims’ group, plus warning us all to watch for what is alleged to be the real culprit in the spot flooding — filters left in storm drains by contractors and construction crews. Regarding the damage already done, they’re thinking about suing, and inviting anybody and everybody who had flood trouble to e-mail them at floodvictims@comcast.net.
Too soggy for sports
The city parks department has just issued an alert — it’s closing all grass ballfields around the city because they’re just too soggy, with rain most of the weekend and more on the way. That includes Alki, Fairmount, High Point, part of Hiawatha, Highland Park, Roxhill, and West Seattle Stadium, among others.
Got power?
Haven’t seen it this windy in a while. Weather Service says Alki Point has gusts up to 43 mph. How are things where you are?
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