The last few days exemplified the oddities of Seattle weather. If given a choice to describe yesterday’s weather conditions, would you choose:
1. cold, windy, dark and dreary (but dry)
2. battering hailstones
3. rainy
4. sunny
a windy Alki Beach, West Seattle (credit:
Go Northwest: a Travel Guide)
If you answered all four, you’d be correct! We had savage wind gusts up to 36 mph. The temperature in the morning was in the high 30s (really cold). We had a moment of hail falling from the sky. It rained AND the sun came out. If you enjoy weather variety this is the place for you.
I took Jonah down to Madrona Beach after his nap and I realized that his light spring jacket wouldn’t suffice so I luckily thought to put him in his winter coat. But I didn’t think I’d need his gloves (gloves in mid-March??) and this was a mistake. It’s always windy down by the beach and I expected we’d face a few gusts. But what we faced reminded me of the Libyan desert wind that whipped through a southern Crete beach at 80 mph when I visited in 1980. You basically couldn’t walk if you tried to walk erect. In short, it was WINDY.
I thought I’d entertain my son by lifting my hat and letting the wind carry it away. He thought it was hilarious to see it skittering away across the sand and we both had to do throw our hats in the air for the next half hour (“Daddy, do it again!”). Then Jonah wanted me to help him up the lifeguard’s chair, which scared me a bit because of the 35 mph gusts we were experiencing. But all went well and no one did a nose dive.
Jonah always loves digging at the beach and yesterday was no exception. But the difference between yesterday and other days at the beach was the severe chill. Jonah’s hands froze and he, who usually is never cold and would walk through the world naked if we allowed it, cried because his were so cold it hurt. I rubbed his hands in mine and blew hot air on them and gradually he calmed down.
This morning I took the dog for a walk around 10 AM and although the sun was shining it was frigidly cold. Our nanny told me it felt like it might snow! One thing about Seattle that’s different from New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco is that it can be VERY cold in the mornings and sometimes doesn’t really warm up till about midday.
