Enjoy heat wave while it lasts; cooldown begins Sunday

Oh yeah, that's why we live here.

After a seemingly endless winter of rain and gray -- broken by snowfall -- day after day, and a spring that never arrived, a strange glowing orb appeared in the sky Friday. Temperatures at Sea-Tac Airport hit 84, tying the record for the date set in 1985.

National Weather Service meteorologist Danny Mercer said the Seattle area could reach another record on Saturday. Temperatures are expected to rise as high as 84. The record for the date is 85 degrees, set in 1956.

On Friday, skirts rose. Bikinis, shorts and sometimes alarmingly white legs appeared on the streets and beaches of Seattle.

And on a tiny, secluded park on Lake Washington, the first summery day since, well, last summer inspired some to throw all their clothes off.

Only in Seattle could 84 degrees arouse such rejoicing.

Parking seemed especially tight where there was water and beach to be found. And while the state's transportation department reported no dip in traffic from people calling in with the summer flu, a 41-year-old man at Madison Beach said he'd called in sick.

He was spending the afternoon lying down, after all. And he did look pale. But so did everybody else.

What was ailing him, the man said, was his vision.

"I couldn't see going to work," he said.

He didn't want to give his name because he'd like to keep his job when the sun inevitably goes away.

Nearby, Nate Cooter, 26, Thomas Munter, 23, and Beth Roland, 21, watched the Jet Skiers and yacht captains cruising across Lake Washington in the middle of the workday. They work nights, they explained.

Cooter and Munter are in a band; Roland is a waitress.

"I think we deserve this day," said Cooter, who had a tattoo of a musical note on his bare chest.

"We all moved here from somewhere else so we knew the deal (about living in Seattle). But this was the worst winter. It seemed like there were less nice days this year," Cooter said.

"Just constant gray and drizzle," Roland said.

"Suicidal," said Munter.

		Andy Rogers / P-I
	Kristin Frosaker covers her son Matthew, 3, in sand Friday at Golden Gardens Park. Despite sometimes overcast skies and a steady breeze, warm weather drew out a sizable number of visitors.

"I really think we deserve this," Cooter repeated.

Not all were happy about the weather, especially those with fur coats.

Gary Phillips, 48, is a professional dog walker. The eight canines that were pulling him along on his roller skates on the street outside the park didn't especially like the heat. "They get too hot," he said. "We take them in the water to cool off."

Hoquiam also set a record Friday of 93 degrees.

Forecasters are calling for highs in the 80s and 90s in Eastern Washington through the weekend.

But on Seattle's unofficial nude beach on Lake Washington -- whose location we're withholding because the nudists said they don't want gawkers -- four bare men lay on their stomachs soaking in the rays.

"You get a real good dose of Vitamin D all over," said one, who identified himself only as "ancient."

"Of course you don't want to spend eight hours out here."

On Capitol Hill, a fully clothed Marc Lawrence, 31, welcomed the heat, even after he'd trudged up steep Denny Way. "It keeps your muscles nice and warm," he said.

The warmth will prove fleeting. Temperatures are to drop to the low 70s by Sunday.