It's summer across the U.S., you say? Well not quite — the Pacific Northwest has seen more clouds and rain than sun, or heat for that matter.
In Seattle, temperatures in recent weeks — not just days — have been mostly in the 60s. The 70s? Maybe during a few hours on a few days. Over 80? Seattle's KOMO TV on Monday calculated that number. It's not days or hours, but minutes: 78 to be exact.
The Weather Channel's U.S. temperature map for Wednesday shows the Northwest a cool yellow, while the rest of the country stands out in hotter shades of red, orange and magenta.
Portland, for its part, did set a "summer" record last Sunday: the most rain for a July 17, breaking the old one set in 1993.
Still, summer activities like free downtown concerts continue in the region, albeit with warmer attire.
"I didn't leave the house without being prepared," Melissa Belt, wearing a down jacket, told NBC affiliate KING 5 at a show where even some of the dancers were bundled up.
"I'd say (it's) miserably cold," Belt said. "I've got a cold right now in fact."
Seattle's preeminent meteorologist, the University of Washington's Cliff Mass, assigned some blame to the La Nina ocean cycle on his blog, but even he showed exasperation.
"I have followed the weather around here for a long time and I can't remember such sustained cool, cloudy weather during the middle to end of July," he wrote.
KING 5 did also get an outside perspective on Seattle's situation, interviewing an air traveler just in from Cincinnati.
"It feels like you put your head in the oven," Daniele Crandall said of the heat back home.
"This is not summer," she said of Seattle's 60-degree weather. "It's missing some degrees."
