Winter Returned

Grumpy Bear · July 2

44 minutes ago, diyer2 said:

To many wildfires.

Looks like the entire state is burning.

Grumpy Bear · July 6

Six inches of rain over three days. That's our average July total! We got half that in about ten minutes yesterday. Ground is soaked and every sprinkle turns into a river. Sump pumps are getting a workout. If you want some, bring a bucket, bring a barrel. Bring a truck. :crackup:

Edited July 6 by Grumpy Bear

OnTheReel · July 17

Insane smoke out today. Worst air ever recorded here. Sunrise over the water looked apocalyptic.
Pretty bad in town as well.

Didn’t stop this guy from letting the top down in his C5 of course. He must be a heavy smoker because my lungs wouldn’t handle that so well.

Grumpy Bear · July 17

21 minutes ago, OnTheReel said:

Insane smoke out today. Worst air ever recorded here. Sunrise over the water looked apocalyptic.
Pretty bad in town as well.

Didn’t stop this guy from letting the top down in his C5 of course. He must be a heavy smoker because my lungs wouldn’t handle that so well.

No better here. Stayed indoors. 95F, 100+ heat index and you can taste the air. Cars/truck covered in ash. Neighborhood looks like its on fire there so much smoke.

CamGTP · July 17

I still saw people out for runs, on their bikes/motorcylces, jeeps with the doors off driving around here the past 2 days. I guess we are just used to it here haha.

Tasted like a bonfire the last 2 days.

diyer2 · July 18

Got heavy rain, hail and light rain yesterday.

Grumpy Bear · July 18

6 hours ago, diyer2 said:

Got heavy rain, hail and light rain yesterday.

Good, well not so much the hail but rain, yea.

OnTheReel · July 25

.30” of rain all month and it’s been weeks since that. “Mowed” our two properties today for the first time since July 2nd. It only took 30 minutes because all I had to do was level some weeds and saplings in a few problem areas. Everything else is dead.

Grumpy Bear · July 25

2 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

.30” of rain all month and it’s been weeks since that. “Mowed” our two properties today for the first time since July 2nd. It only took 30 minutes because all I had to do was level some weeds and saplings in a few problem areas. Everything else is dead.

I went from every other day to about once in five since the rain abated. I'm not unhappy about that. Took most of the month for the ditches to dry enough to mow.

diyer2 · July 25

We have got a lot of rain lately, we needed it. Storms/lightning took out a floor fan. Dirt roads badly rutted from run off.

Power here is sketchy, whole house surge protector in the service panel and all electronics plugged into surge protectors. My biggest concern is my stereo, I've been an audio nut for years. $25 k in equipment. Stereo is on it's own special surge protector.

Grumpy Bear · July 27

Thought it was raining this morning when we woke. Nope. Dew point was over 80 F and humidity 98%. Zero visibility distance. Everything was 'sweating'. I've seen rain come out of clouds but never out of Pepper or the tree trunks. :crackup:

Wicked storms just missed us sliding off to the east but by blocks. Heat index about 110 F with air temp in the 90's.

This is our third wave this month of multiple days of this type of weather. And yet the grass is going dormant and the ground is cracking this side of the street and water up the the hood opposite. Just weird stuff going on.

OnTheReel · Thursday at 11:47 AM

Rain, humidity, and insects. That is all we have lately.

Atlas · Thursday at 02:42 PM

I'm thankful to live where we don't have extreme weather. We might all be blown to smithereens when Mt. Rainier goes, but 80 is warm enough in the summer and I can generally count the number of hard freezes in the winter on one hand. The cars here don't rust and they don't get sun-baked, either.

We have finished off many of our average 52 days of "clear/sunny" weather, though. Sunsets are coming earlier, the nights are a little cooler. It's right around the first week of September when we get our first warning that summer is coming to a close with overcast skies and the start of "hoodie weather" temperatures during the cooler parts of the day. By October, it's usually time to ditch the shorts. By November, it's mostly raining.

diyer2 · 2026-08-15T13:40:16Z

We got some much needed rain yesterday. Started with a storm which caused a downpour, then gentle rain. 48 degrees this morning.

Atlas · 2026-08-15T14:28:24Z

We've hit that time of year...I'm ready for a good day of rain.

Just a day, though. We're also into "smoke season". Have been getting a little bit of smoke over in these parts, but not too bad. Wasn't always like this, has been much worse over the last 10 years and has become an annual thing we just expect now, but times are a changin'.

We have family who are affected by the wildfires around Spokane. They were evacuated and staying with friends in the area for about 2 weeks. Thankfully, their home did not burn, but the wildfires were literally just a few streets over from their home.