So far IMO it has been a much better year than 2008.

Well we just started a new solar cycle so I think it will be warmer. The cycle should progress over the next few years growing warmer and dryer. Considering where we live that could be a good thing. LOL. This is supposed to be the most intense/active solar cycle in a very long time. They run about 11 years each. The electro magnetic shield around the earth is also in a low cycle so more of the solar radiation will get through. All those things should add up to continue warming temperatures.

La Nina has just been declared over and done, it is a factor in our weather.

Thanks all. I hope yall are right. I am tired of cool summers. I miss 80* and sunny. And my veggies want warmth as well. Bye bye La Nina, I won't miss ya.

According to Cliff Mass it usually takes until after July 4th for the seasonal warming to overcome the coolness here. Spring in western WA is February to July.

Most of our water supply originates on low Cascade peaks. These will be the first to see significantly diminished snow accumulations as the climate warms. It won't matter if it becomes a little warmer and better for warm season crops if there is no water to put on them.

On the solar cycle--we are supposed to be in the beginning of an upswing, but instead the sun has been completely dead--no solar flares at all, for the last few months until just the last couple of weeks. The last time this was observed was known as the Maunder Minimum and led to the Little Ice Age. The sun is starting to get active again, with some sunspot activity, but no one yet knows how active it will get. Overall, the earth has been in a cooling cycle since 1998. We can hope we get a warming cycle, but it isn't guaranteed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maunder Minimum

I'm not much a prognosticator, but i do know how to read what i see happening in my 25 year old garden. So far, it seems at least as cold as the unseasonable and extended cold of last spring. I have all my squashes, tomatoes and paprika peppers in the ground. Hopefully that's not a big mistake, as we almost had a frost earlier this week. In mid_May? The best i can say is that these hot weather crops are enduring. I'm also noticing that the perennials are flowering way beyond the usual schedule. Never have I see alliums and Iris flowering so late. Never have I seen my own pears flowering at the same time as the apples.

One prediction for local results of climate warming I've read is for colder, darker springs followed by blazing summers.

Will the "darker springs" require yet another tweak of daylight savings time?

Well we've had two cold springs in a row (assuming this one continues on as it has). But spring 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 were all warmer than normal (for the Seattle area). So I don't think anything too unusual is going on.