Dancing in Seattle in the Summer Rain (Factoid #7)

SEATTLE FACTOID #7

So far, in July 2019, Seattle has had a relatively healthy amount of rainfall interspersing the warm sunshine, much to the consternation of so many residents — I won’t go so far as to say “natives” (because natives know and remember what summers are like in Seattle) — who are complaining that Mother Nature has confiscated our summer this year.

On Twitter, many of my fellow Seattleites were both amusing (and bemusing) me with their collective online angst against the rare thunderstorms and very wet conditions the city has experienced this month. I decided to offer a counterargument to the tribal diatribe by stating that:

“Summer isn’t canceled, ladies and gents! Recall those post-apocalyptic red and brown, smoke-choked skies of Summer ’17 and ’18. Recall those times, and please be grateful that it’s raining! It can still be summer AND rain simultaneously!”

TIA International Photography

A year ago, due to what could be opined as an interminable, prolonged period of massive forest fires scorching acres of forests and fields in British Columbia, the typically clear skies over Seattle and much of western Washington were both bogged and clogged with smoke, particularly in August. Many people in the metropolitan area began to wear air masks while walking outdoors. It did not rain for several days — maybe weeks — and the duration of the lingering smog felt like an eternity. If visitors traveled to Seattle for the first time during mid-to-late summer in the last two years, they probably left with a very poor impression of what we typically experience during this time of year. It wasn’t until Labor Day that our typical climate returned to what was familiar in this part of the country.

As a result, I cannot complain if it’s raining with temperatures in the low to mid-60s in mid-July in Seattle. I am grateful!

However, I digress from sharing the latest Seattle factoid itself. Here it is:

Though it has a world renowned and stereotypical persona for constant, perennial precipitation ad infinitum, Seattle actually receives less annual rainfall than the following American cities:

We’ll conclude this fun Seattle factoid article with two legends in their own rights, singing about…what else?

The rain.

Thanks for reading this article. If you enjoyed the photographs here, please visit my official website @ www.tia-international-photography.com for an indelible, visual experience.