Geography & Climate
Geography of Seattle
With a total land area of 217 square kilometers and a water area of 150 square kilometers (41% water in city limits), Seattle is the northernmost city with at least 500,000 people in the United States. It is at the latitude of 47" 37' north and longtitude of 122" 19' west , which locates further north than Canadian cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, at about the same latitude as Salzburg, Austria [6-8].
The city of Seattle is located at sea level and is built on seven adjacent hills including Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Magnolia, Denny Hill, and Queen Anne. The highest hill elevation in the city is 520 feet [6-8].
The city shoreline runs along Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east. The Lake Washington Ship Canal is an east/west running waterway that geologically divides Seattle into northern and southern sections. The city's major lakes are Lake Washington, which stretches along almost the entire eastern side of Seattle, and Bitter Lake, Green Lake and Haller Lake, which are all north of the Lake Washington Ship Canal [6-7].
The location of Seattle in USA
The map of Seattle city
Climate of Seattle
Seattle and the Pacific Northwest generally have a wet climate with little extreme variations in temperature, and a high number of cloudy days with misty and damp weather [9]. On average, it rains in Seattle at least 50% of the time, with the heaviest rain periods between January and May and between October and December. June, July and August are the dryest and warmest months.
As for the seasons, temperatures in summer usually hover around a pleasant 75°F (about 24°C), though we also have been known to suffer through weeklong heat spells in the high 80s or low 90s. Seattle summer climate tends more toward the dry than the humid. Besides, Seattle also get occasional summer thunderstorms and tornados are rare. In the winter, Seattle may see a handful of snow days per year: the last major snow event in Seattle was in 1997, when the city was snowed in for a week with several inches. However, in the winter of 2006/2007, the Puget Sound area experienced a number of damaging winter storms, lowland snow, wind storms, and a weeks-long string of below-freezing days.
For more information about the climate of Seattle, the relative charts from the software Climate Consultant are shown as below. (The data source was downloaded from U.S Department of Energy and the comfort model is set as California Energy Code Comfort Model of 2013.)
Monthly temperature range of Seattle
Monthly dry bulb temperature and relative humidity of Seattle
Monthly sun shading chart of Seattle
Monthly wind velocity range of Seattle
Monthly illumination range of Seattle
Monthly radiation range of Seattle
Wind wheel of Seattle
Psychometric chart of Seattle