This year brought a grab bag of weather to Puget Sound. We had feet of snow, hours of lightning, and buckets of rain.
Seattle had its snowiest February on record and the coldest one in 30 years. The average temperature for the month was 36.6 degrees. According to the National Weather Service, Sea-Tac Airport saw 14.1 inches in the first 10 days of the month. The old record at Sea-Tac was 13.1 inches in 1949.
The single snowiest day of the year was February 8 when 6.4 inches fell. Just days before, we experienced the two coldest days of the year when temperatures plummeted to 20 degrees on February 5 and 6.
By contrast, the hottest day of the year fell before the official start of summer. We hit 95 degrees on June 12 and the summer solstice didn't arrive until June 21.
And then there was lightning. A rare summer storm brought 2,200 lightning strikes to Puget Sound on the evening of September 7. "That works out to an estimated 440 an hour and 7 to 8 a minute," NWS Seattle tweeted.
Of course Seattle has its reputation for rain, no matter where you stand on the Great Umbrella Debate. And though it doesn't rain nearly as much as the rest of America likes to believe, we did get a doozy of a downpour the week before Christmas.
Our wettest day of 2019 was December 20 when 3.25 inches rained down on holiday revelers.
While New Year's Eve wasn't the windiest day of the year, it was gusty enough to cancel the annual Space Needle fireworks display for the first time in 26 years.
There's no telling what 2020 will bring to Puget Sound, but the "Blob" is back and sure to keep things interesting.
