Hotter summers could become the norm in the Pacific Northwest

Hotter than normal summers for the Pacific Northwest are likely here to stay. That’s the word from a NOAA scientist, who says you can blame climate change.

While most of us simply can’t escape to a place like Green Lake in the middle of the day just to cool off, for some workers, when it’s hot outside, it’s even hotter inside.

If you like it hot, you likely couldn’t do any better than dropping in at the Crescent Arms Drycleaning in Belltown.

“Right now 110 degrees,” guessed manager Margarito Garduno. And that’s inside.

He says they try to make it bearable.

“I have like the AC and … fans working, too,” he said. “And drink lots of water. Lots of water. Pretty much that’s the key.”

Still, that isn’t always enough.

“Yeah, I need to take a little break, you know, every hour or two hours, too,” Garduno said.

According to a weather expert at NOAA, we’d better get used to it because climate change is upon us.

“It doesn’t mean that we’re always going to be hot,” Kirby Cook said. “But it does mean that more and more we are going to see these kind of … warmer than normal periods of time and staying warmer later in the season and starting the season warmer.”

So we wanted to know once this record-breaking summer heat is over, what we can expect when summer ends.

“If we look at the fall, right now, the temperature outlook for much of the Pacific Northwest for temperatures is kind of a 50-50 chance of cooler than normal or a warmer than normal,” said Cook.

No matter, it will be getting closer to the time of year when it’s quite pleasant here at Crescent Arms Drycleaning.

“Yup,” said Garduno. “I’m so happy in winter.”

That’s good. Because we’re supposed to have an El Nino winter, which means the weather will be colder than normal.

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