Why does this summer seem like the worst Seattle summer ever?

1. 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 were mostly dry with only 2004’s August and September ruining the streak.
2. July is typically our driest month but this year we had more than 2x typical rain. Meanwhile, August is on pace for average which doesn’t feel any better given crappy July.

Basically, we forget what summer in Seattle means and, yeah, July was pretty damn crappy. When we wrote about the infamously wet Seattle summer of ’97 back in July — The tale of the Dismal Summer — we didn’t have all the numbers we needed. Still, we were able to make our points:

1. The summer of 1997 sucked.
2. There was more total rain from June through September than in any other year in the past decade.
3. Worse was the monotony — it rained at least 1 inch in each of those four soggy months (also the only time in the past decade this happened)
4. 2007, even in July, was shaping up to be the new 1997

Now, we have the monthly totals for 2006 and 2007 to-date to throw into the mix.

So far in the summer of 07, we’ve accumulated 3.28 inches of crappy rain. With 11 days left in August, we would need another .83 inches before the end of the month to be on ’97’s gushing pace. We probably won’t get there. And if we have an “average” September, we should only get about 1.25 inches of rain putting us well below 1997’s numbers.

This isn’t likely to be the worst summer we’ve ever had — yet even long-time residents are starting to crack. We forget that it occasionally has a crap summer. So, dear neighbors, get used to it. Go outside and do what you need to do. This is normal. This is Seattle.