Late May rain made a splash in the totals

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For the first 24 days of May, uncharacteristically stingy Seattle skies offered barely more than half an inch of rain to quench the anxiety of drought watchers wondering whether the city's reservoirs would be full enough for the dry summer months.

Then came May 25.

On that day and the following three, almost 2 inches of rain fell in a storm that set two daily precipitation records and even produced freak tornadoes in Thurston and Clark counties. By Monday, May had gone from one of the drier months on record to ending with 0.67 inches above the monthly average.

This week, Seattle's water-supply reservoirs on the Cedar and Tolt rivers are at 95 percent capacity just as summer is ready to break, said J. Paul Blake, a Seattle Public Utilities spokesman.

"It's a big stress reducer," he said.

Last week's rain caused the water level at Chester Morse Lake, the Cedar River's reservoir, to rise 6 feet, Blake said. The Tolt River reservoir rose about 4 feet. And water is still trickling in from mountain valleys.

Still, the folks at Seattle Public Utilities were far from advising a summer of unbridled lawn-watering and Slip'N Slide use.

"As always, we want people to use water wisely," Blake said. "That's our ongoing mantra, so to speak."

Seattle rainfall still is 3.31 inches below average for the year.

In Eastern Washington, the end-of-the-month rains did little to dampen worries about a bad season for wildfires. Spokane got nearly 4 inches of rain during the storms. But rainfall on the eastern slopes of the Cascades is still well below normal.

Experts said the rain may have delayed the fire season a bit. But it also will cause a spurt in the growth of grass and underbrush that can end up being tinder for wildfires.

In fact, the National Weather Service lists parts of Western Washington as likely to develop drought this year because average monthly temperatures continue to run a bit higher than normal.

Despite the last-minute flurry of rain, overall daily temperatures were above normal last month. Since February, every month has seen above-average temperatures.

None of those temperatures has been high enough to alarm meteorologists, though.

"Mother Nature always has a way of compensating for things," said Johnny Burg, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service station at Sand Point.

As far as records go, this year's May 27 and 28 will go down as the wettest on record at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The two funnel clouds that touched down last week, ripping up a couple of barns, brought the state's tornado total to five this year, well above the annual average of 1.8.

June usually produces a couple of inches of rain before things get really dry. This week, though, will remain sunny, the weather service predicts, with highs in the 70s. But sure enough, showers are expected for the weekend.

Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com