The weather gods gave Washington plenty of drama for 2024.
From the hottest first half of July on record in Seattle to a bomb cyclone that brought the Seattle area’s most extensive power outages in nearly 20 years, 2024 set quite a few weather records in the state.
The ever-changing weather brought tragedies, with at least five people in Seattle dying from hypothermia in the January cold snap to two people who were killed by falling trees during the November bomb cyclone windstorm.
But the weather astonished and delighted Washingtonians as well, especially in May and October when a major geomagnetic storm gave us some of the best views of the aurora borealis, or the northern lights.
Here’s more on the weather drama Washingtonians experienced in 2024.
Winter
Washington started the year with severe winter storms that led President Joe Biden to eventually approve a federal disaster declaration for many of the state’s counties.
The January storms battered Washington with gusty winds, and blizzard conditions in the mountains. More than 100,000 customers across Washington experienced power outages from strong winds that toppled trees and downed power lines.
Western Washington counties saw winds exceeding 60 mph in some spots, and nearly 5 feet of snow was recorded at Snoqualmie Pass between Jan. 6 and Jan. 12, Gov. Jay Inslee wrote in his letter to Biden asking him to approve the federal disaster declaration.
Spokane set a daily record low temperature at minus 7 degrees on Jan. 12, Inslee said. Seattle saw its lowest temperatures in over 30 years with temperatures below 20 degrees, leading to “frost heaving” that caused some fields to buckle.
The storms caused more than $30 million in damage, Inslee wrote in a letter declaring a state of emergency for those counties.
Spring
Despite the winter storms, Washington Department of Ecology officials declared a statewide drought emergency in April.
Snowpack dwindled to levels significantly below normal, especially in the Olympic Mountains. Experts said higher temperatures meant more precipitation was coming down as rain, not snow.
After the January storm, Seattle also stayed relatively dry as the region went through El Niño, which led to an unusual period between January and April when Los Angeles got more rainfall than Seattle.
But “Juneuary,” right before the start of summer, gave us heavy rains and back-to-back atmospheric rivers.
Spring also featured astronomical delights.
Although April’s total solar eclipse could not be seen in Seattle due to cloudy skies, some traveled to the path of totality to spot the moon sliding between the sun and Earth.
In May, much of Washington was greeted with stunning views of the aurora borealis coming from a strong solar storm.
Summer
It might not have been as bad as previous years, but the summer of 2024 still packed some punch.
Several cities in Western Washington broke daily heat records in early July, with Seattle-Tacoma International Airport hitting 98 degrees and Olympia soaring to 100 degrees. Mercer Island in July urged residents and businesses to conserve water amid the heat wave.
Seattle in July had. The first half of July in Seattle had an average high temperature of 85.3 degrees, 9.2 degrees above normal, according to the National Weather Service.
Eastern and Central Washington saw temperatures up to 110 degrees. The region also suffered from wildfires, including the Pioneer fire that crept very close to the town of Stehekin on Lake Chelan.
But the temperatures dropped significantly in August. At one point, highs at Sea-Tac dipped below 60 degrees, Seattle Weather Blog posted on X.
Much of the state got out of the drought by September, thanks to scattered rains and unseasonably cool conditions.
Fall
The fall blessed us with a second major geomagnetic storm that gave us another chance at spotting the aurora borealis.
But the season was remembered most for a late November bomb cyclone that knocked out power for some 500,000 customers throughout Western Washington. Some meteorologists referred to the storm as a “super explosive cyclone,” with rapid drops in pressure that generated wind gusts of up to 74 mph in places.
The windstorm led to Seattle’s most severe power outage since 2006, and it took days for some to get their power back.
One good note as we reached the end of 2024: By Jan. 1, just less than 7% of the state was in moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Experts said snowpack so far this winter is off to a decent start, as the region prepares for La Niña conditions.