PORT ANGELES — A weekend of warm days and clear skies drew sun-deprived residents out of their homes to take a peek at sunlit parks and beaches.
The seasonal weather arrived on the Olympic Peninsula with temperatures “soaring” into the 70s after being stuck in a long cool period for most of the summer.
The National Weather Service recorded 73 degrees at the William R. Fairchild International Airport as Port Angeles’ high temperature on Saturday. The mercury reached 78 degrees on Sunday.
Sequim’s high temperature easily topped that, hitting 84 degrees — 15 degrees above the July 24 average of 69 degrees.
Port Townsend warmed to 77, and even Forks reached 73 degrees.
Only the coast remained cool but sunny, said Jeff Michalski, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.
“Welcome to our second day of summer,” a sign in front of a Port Angeles hotel read late Sunday morning.
Many residents welcomed the break from the gray, cool weather that dominated in the previous week, when high temperatures struggled to reach 65 degrees.
Thousands turned out for the Port Angeles Nor’wester Rotary Arts in Action Festival, where the sunbaked City Pier and nearby Hollywood Beach offered plenty of opportunities to bake out the gray days. Dogs played in the water, children dug in the sand and people in T-shirts and shorts plied the vendors for cool drinks.
Farther inland the temperatures were even higher.
Quilcene reached 90 degrees, and thermometers still hovered at 87 degrees at 7 p.m. Sunday.
The warmth spread across most of northwest Washington, where many Seattle-area locations reached the 80s, and Olympia approached the 90s, Michalski said.
“An upper level ridge and high pressure helped with that,” he said. “But this is it.”
The ridge and high pressure will be over Eastern Washington by today and won’t be seen again soon.
The weather will return to the cool, overcast days at least for the next week, he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.