The Desertification of Seattle Has Begun

Seattle weather guru Cliff Mass has some unsettling news: May 20 to June 30 was the driest such period in the 116-year history of Seattle weather-record-keeping.

Seattle got a mere .18 inches of rain--not enough to chase a whiskey--deblitermashing the previous record by a full .1 inch! Suck it, 1934.

Someday, perhaps, we brave residents who endured these 40 days in the desert will be memorialized with a plaque on the docks of Puget Trench, or a mural at the bike path around Green Ditch.

Now, in order to stop a citywide exchange of fleece and stocking caps for safari suits and pith helmets, we must point out that June itself was only seventh-driest on record.

Our .18 inches of June rain was a veritable deluge compared to the .03 that fell in June of 1922. (Our grandfather said about that month: "It was so dry, the cows gave evaporated milk. Dry, I tell ya!" Wait, sorry, that was Rodney Dangerfield.)

So this could be just a BBQ-friendly blip on the overall climate radar. Nevertheless, it's one that has Smokey the Bear on alert. "We are going into the normal summer dry season with very low soil and surface 'fuel' moisture values and the potential for big wildfires is greatly enhanced," writes Mass. Eep.

This is indeed, as one prophetic Seattleite has put it, "what happens when you cut down all the trees."