Local News | On a hot streak: Seattle breaks weather record on Astini News

If it's felt like we have finally gotten some solid summer weather, you're right.

On Sunday, Seattle officially broke a record for most consecutive days in September that reached 80 degrees or warmer.

It was Day 9 of temperatures in the 80s, beating the previous record of eight straight days set in September of 1989, said Johnny Burg, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. The record was broken at 12:53 p.m., when the temperature at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport hit 81 degrees. By late afternoon, the temperature peaked at 84.

And Monday might even be Day 10, Burg said, with highs predicted in the upper 70s or low 80s.

OK, so the rest of the week will likely be a little cooler, Burg said. But hey, by regular Seattle summer standards it should still be short-sleeve weather.

It'll still be sunny on Tuesday, but temperatures are expected to fall into the mid-60s to low 70s. It's supposed to be mostly sunny Wednesday, with temperatures in the upper 60s, says Burg.

Thursday through Saturday will likely be mostly cloudy, he said, but with temperatures again in the upper 60s and low 70s.

Traditionally, weather readings have been taken at airports because they are important for aircraft operations. Now, even though hundreds of similar readings are available in a region, the airport tradition continues.

In Seattle, some debate has arisen about just how record-breaking were the recent 80-degree-plus days.

Cliff Mass, the University of Washington professor of atmospheric sciences who has become a local weather guru, says that the $1 billion third runway that opened at Sea-Tac in 2008 may skew temperature readings.

The measuring equipment is very good, says Mass, but the runway construction created surface changes that he believes affect the temperature sensors. One reason, he says, is that the pavement absorbs and then releases heat.

He says that what now measures as an 81-degree day at Sea-Tac "might have been 78 degrees" before the runway.

Burg says Weather Service meteorologists know about Mass' qualms but discount them, saying that the sensors are in a large grassy area, "not even between runways."

In any case, it's clear that whether it was 81 or 78, a visit to the Facebook pages of Seattle-area residents shows numerous photos of them in ecstasy over the sunny weather.

"Talk to a psychologist about that," says Mass.