It’s hard to believe that September is just around the corner. Next Wednesday marks the start of a new month and in the meteorological community, it marks the start of a new season. It’s been quite the summer thus far. One word predominantly describes most of our summer: dry. Below shows a graph of the rainfall accumulation for our meteorological summer up to this point.

Technically, we are not much below normal in terms of total accumulation (3.09 inches compared to 3.46 inches). However, most of that total came at the beginning of June. We had a series of very wet days to start June but after that, we flat-lined, so to speak. It wasn’t until the beginning of August when we finally saw more than a mere hundredth of an inch.

If we didn’t see that wet start to June, we would be in much worse shape in terms of total rainfall. Granted, July and August are our driest months of the year. But if you break it down by month—particularly July—it’s very clear that we were running even more dry than is typical this time of year.

As we finish out the month of August, there’s not much to write home about in terms of weather. A weak system passed through during the day Thursday, bringing some areas a bit of rain. A few showers may linger a bit into Friday morning, but after that, an upper ridge of high pressure begins to build. You can see a model image of this ridge below, valid Saturday morning.

The ridge will be the main feature over the weekend. We are looking to be dry, and temperatures are expected to be right around that “goldilocks” zone, with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s. Overnight temperatures will be approaching the chilly side, with low temperatures mainly in the low 50s. We typically see lows in the mid 50s at this time of year so this is slightly below average. If you’re outside at night, you’ll definitely want a sweater—and you may be reminded that fall is very much on its way.

Nothing super exciting is expected as we head into next week, with a mix of sun and clouds, temperatures primarily in the mid-to-upper 60s and into the low 70s, and mostly dry weather. I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely itching for a little bit of excitement in the weather department—as long as it doesn’t consist of temperatures in the 90s.

Have a great weekend!

— By Kelsie Nelson

Kelsie Nelson is a meteorologist and recent University of Washington graduate who grew up in Lynnwood and now lives in Kenmore. After writing weather blogs as a KOMO News intern, she discovered a passion for writing about weather. You can learn more in her blog www.wxnoggin.com and you can also follow her on Twitter at @kels_wx3.