Martin Luther McCoy, Kofy Brown, Jack White, Erykah Badu and The Alchemist—Bay 'summer' is back.

Late August 2026 Here in western Washington we often refer to this month as “Fogust” because more often than not we have fog or marine stratus in the mornings. Usually it burns off during the day…

Here in western Washington we often refer to this month as “Fogust” because more often than not we have fog or marine stratus in the mornings. Usually it burns off during the day sometime but it keeps temperatures cool and marks the end of summer. There are many signs of that transition. In recent years we could as often call this month “Smogust” due to the wildfire smoke that drifts across the area. A few days ago we had some bad air quality when smoke from the Prineville wildfire in central Oregon came north and at the same time smoke from several wildfires in eastern Washington drifted across the mountains through the passes. This was what the bay looked like that day. Most of you know what that smells like, and how it makes your eyes and lungs feel. But we are more fortunate than most in the West here in the islands. The marine air coming up the Strait of Juan de Fuca brings us fog and low grey stratus which blows the smoke away. It’s a good tradeoff in my opinion. While it’s always quite dry in August it’s been especially so this year. After some decent rainfall...