May 18, 1980 – 46 years ago.
It was mild, sunny Sunday morning. People were walking their dogs, some enjoying their morning coffee, and others still rising from their weekend slumber.
I was a young forecaster with the National Weather Service Seattle (NWS) Forecast Office working the aviation forecast desk. Back then, we were a state forecast office. So I was responsible for forecasts across the state at air terminals like Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Boeing Field, Spokane, Yakima, Wenatchee, Everett-Paine Field and Bellingham, as well as air route forecasts between many of those locations…