The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.^[2]

History[link]

The Seattle Times originated as the Seattle Press-Times, a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a daily circulation of 3,500, which Maine teacher and attorney Alden J. Blethen bought in 1896.^[3][4] Renamed the Seattle Daily Times, it doubled its circulation within half a year. By 1915, circulation stood at 70,000. As of October 2010^[update], weekday circulation stood at 251,697.^[1]

The Times is one of the few remaining major city dailies in the United States independently operated and owned by a local family (the Blethens). The Seattle Times Company, while owning and operating the Times, also owns three other papers in Washington. The McClatchy Company owns 49.5 percent of voting common stock in the Seattle Times Company, formerly held by Knight Ridder.

The Times reporting has received eight Pulitzer Prizes.^[3] It has an international reputation for its investigative journalism, in particular.^[5] In April 2010, The Seattle Times staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting "for its comprehensive coverage, in print and online, of the shooting deaths of four police officers in a coffee house and the 40-hour manhunt for the suspect." ^[6] The city was on edge during the manhunt, and The Seattle Times had around-the-clock staff monitoring the search and investigating the killer's history in the criminal justice system.

Headline controversy[link]

In February 2002, the Seattle Times ran a subheadline 'American outshines Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise' after Sarah Hughes won the gold medal at the 2002 Olympics. Many Asian Americans felt insulted by the Times actions even after the newspaper apologized, because Michelle Kwan is also American.^[7]

The Joint Operating Agreement[link]

From 1983 to 2009, the Times and Seattle's other major paper, the Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer, were run under a "Joint Operating Agreement" (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation were controlled by the Times for both papers.^[3] The two papers maintained their own identities with separate news and editorial departments.

The Times announced its intention to cancel the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) in 2003, citing a clause in the JOA contract that three consecutive years of losses allowed it to pull out of the agreement.^[8] Hearst sued, arguing that a force majeure clause prevented the Times from claiming losses as reason to end the JOA when they result from extraordinary events (in this case, a seven-week strike by members of the Newspaper Guild). While a district judge ruled in Hearst's favor, the Times won on appeal, including a unanimous decision from the Washington State Supreme Court on June 30, 2005.^[9] Hearst continued to argue that the Times fabricated its loss in 2002. The two papers announced an end to their dispute on April 16, 2007.^[10]

This arrangement JOA was terminated when the Post-Intelligencer ceased publication on March 17, 2009.

Delivery and page width[link]

The Seattle Times was an afternoon paper for 104 years until March 6, 2000.^[11] It switched to morning delivery to avoid the fate of other afternoon newspapers that had shut down.^[12] This placed the Times in direct competition with its JOA partner, the morning Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

For decades, the broadsheet page width of the Times was 13½ inches (34.3 cm), printed from a 54-inch web, the four-page width of a roll of newsprint. Following changing industry standards, the width of the page was reduced in 2005 by 1 inch (2.54 cm), to 12½ inches (31.8 cm), now a 50-inch web standard. In February 2009, the web size was further reduced to 46 inches, which narrowed the page by another inch to 11½ inches (29.2 cm) in width.^[13]

Prices[link]

The Times prices are: $0.75 daily, $2 Sunday/Thanksgiving in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. Outside of those four counties, a single copy is $1 daily, $2 Sunday/Thanksgiving.^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

Seattle portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Seattle Times

• The Seattle Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register (it became The Times on 1 January 1788). The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News International, itself wholly owned by the News Corporation group headed by Rupert Murdoch. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967.

The Times is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, including The Times of India (1838), The Straits Times (1845), The New York Times (1851), The Irish Times (1859), the Los Angeles Times (1881), The Seattle Times (1891), The Daily Times (Malawi) (1900), The Canberra Times (1926), and The Times (Malta) (1935). For distinguishing purposes it is therefore sometimes referred to, particularly in North America, as the "London Times" or "The Times of London".^[2][3]

The Times is the originator of the ubiquitous Times Roman typeface, originally developed by Stanley Morison of The Times in collaboration with the Monotype Corporation for its legibility in low-tech printing. In November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, but switched to compact size in 2004 in an attempt to appeal more to younger readers and commuters using public transport. The Sunday Times remains a broadsheet.

Though traditionally a moderate newspaper and sometimes a supporter of the Conservatives, it supported the Labour Party in the 2001 and 2005 general elections.^[4] In 2004, according to MORI, the voting intentions of its readership were 40% for the Conservative Party, 29% for the Liberal Democrats, and 26% for Labour.^[5] The Times had an average daily circulation of 394,102 in March 2012.^[1] An American edition has been published since 6 June 2006.^[2]

History[link]

Front page of The Times from December 4, 1788.

1785 to 1890[link]

The Times was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, with Walter in the role of editor. Walter changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name. Walter senior had spent sixteen months in Newgate prison for libel printed in The Times, but his pioneering efforts to obtain Continental news, especially from France, helped build the paper's reputation among policy makers and financiers.

The Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its early life, the profits of The Times were very large and the competition minimal, so it could pay far better than its rivals for information or writers.

In 1809, John Stoddart was appointed general editor, replaced in 1817 by Thomas Barnes. Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of The Times rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City of London. Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted journalists, and gained for The Times the pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform.").The increased circulation and influence of the paper was based in part to its early adoption of the steam-driven rotary printing press. Distribution via steam trains to rapidly growing concentrations of urban populations helped ensure the profitability of the paper and its growing influence.^[6]

The Times was the first newspaper to send war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. W. H. Russell, the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War, was immensely influential^[7] with his dispatches back to England.

In other events of the nineteenth century, The Times opposed the repeal of the Corn Laws^{[citation needed]} until the number of demonstrations convinced the editorial board otherwise, and only reluctantly supported aid to victims of the Irish Potato Famine. It enthusiastically supported the Great Reform Bill of 1832, which reduced corruption and increased the electorate from 400 000 people to 800 000 people (still a small minority of the population). During the American Civil War, The Times represented the view of the wealthy classes, favouring the secessionists, but it was not a supporter of slavery.

The third John Walter, the founder's grandson, succeeded his father in 1847. The paper continued as more or less independent, but from the 1850s The Times was beginning to suffer from the rise in competition from the penny press, notably The Daily Telegraph and The Morning Post.

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach The Times and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.^[8]

1890 to 1981[link]

The Times faced financial extinction in 1890 under Arthur Fraser Walter, but it was rescued by an energetic editor, Charles Frederic Moberly Bell. During his tenure (1890–1911), The Times became associated with selling the Encyclopædia Britannica using aggressive American marketing methods introduced by Horace Everett Hooper and his advertising executive, Henry Haxton. Due to legal fights between the Britannica's two owners, Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson, The Times severed its connection in 1908 and was bought by pioneering newspaper magnate, Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe.

In editorials published on 29 and 31 July 1914, Wickham Steed, the Times's Chief Editor, argued that the British Empire should enter World War I.^[9] On 8 May 1920, also under the editorship of Steed, The Times in an editorial endorsed the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion as a genuine document, and called Jews the world's greatest danger. In the leader entitled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", Steed wrote about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion:

What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?".^[10]

The following year, when Philip Graves, the Constantinople (modern Istanbul) correspondent of The Times, exposed The Protocols as a forgery, 'The Times retracted the editorial of the previous year.

In 1922, John Jacob Astor, son of the 1st Viscount Astor, bought The Times from the Northcliffe estate. The paper gained a measure of notoriety in the 1930s with its advocacy of German appeasement; then-editor Geoffrey Dawson was closely allied with those in the government who practised appeasement^{[citation needed]}, most notably Neville Chamberlain.

Kim Philby, a Soviet double agent, was a correspondent for the newspaper in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Philby was admired for his courage in obtaining high-quality reporting from the front lines of the bloody conflict. He later joined MI6 during World War II, was promoted into senior positions after the war ended, then eventually defected to the Soviet Union in 1963.^[11]

Between 1941 and 1946, the left-wing British historian E.H. Carr was Assistant Editor. Carr was well known for the strongly pro-Soviet tone of his editorials.^[12] In December 1944, when fighting broke out in Athens between the Greek Communist ELAS and the British Army, Carr in a Times editorial sided with the Communists, leading Winston Churchill to condemn him and that leader in a speech to the House of Commons.^[13] As a result of Carr's editorial, The Times became popularly known during World War II as the threepenny Daily Worker (the price of the Daily Worker was one penny)^[14]

On 3 May 1966 it started printing news on the front page for the first time - previously the front page featured small advertisements, usually of interest to the moneyed classes in British society.^{[citation needed]} In 1967, members of the Astor family sold the paper to Canadian publishing magnate Roy Thomson, The Thomson Corporation merged it with The Sunday Times to form Times Newspapers Limited.

An industrial dispute prompted the management to shut the paper for nearly a year (1 December 1978 – 12 November 1979).

The Thomson Corporation management were struggling to run the business due to the 1979 Energy Crisis and union demands. Management were left with no choice but to save both titles by finding a buyer who was in a position to guarantee the survival of both titles, and also one who had the resources and was committed to funding the introduction of modern printing methods.

Several suitors appeared, including Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland and Lord Rothermere; however, only one buyer was in a position to meet the full Thomson remit, Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

1981 to present: Murdoch-era[link]

In 1981, The Times and The Sunday Times were bought from Thomson by Rupert Murdoch's News International.^[15] The acquisition followed three weeks of intensive bargaining with the unions by company negotiators, John Collier and Bill O'Neill.

After 14 years as editor, William Rees-Mogg resigned the post upon the completion of the change of ownership.^[16] Murdoch began to make his mark on the paper by appointing Harold Evans as his replacement.^[17] One of his most important changes was the introduction of new technology and efficiency measures. In March–May 1982, following agreement with print unions, the hot-metal Linotype printing process used to print The Times since the 19th century was phased out and replaced by computer input and photo-composition. This allowed print room staff at The Times and The Sunday Times to be reduced by half.^{[citation needed]} However, direct input of text by journalists ("single stroke" input) was still not achieved, and this was to remain an interim measure until the Wapping dispute of 1986, when The Times moved from New Printing House Square in Gray's Inn Road (near Fleet Street) to new offices in Wapping.^[18]

Robert Fisk,^[19] seven times British International Journalist of the Year,^[20] resigned as foreign correspondent in 1988 over what he saw as "political censorship" of his article on the shooting-down of Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988. He wrote in detail about his reasons for resigning from the paper due to meddling with his stories, and the paper's pro-Israel stance.^[21]

In June 1990, The Times ceased its policy of using courtesy titles ("Mr", "Mrs", or "Miss" prefixes) for living persons before full names on first reference, but it continues to use them before surnames on subsequent references. The more formal style is now confined to the "Court and Social" page, though "Ms" is now acceptable in that section, as well as before surnames in news sections.

In November 2003, News International began producing the newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid sizes. On 13 September 2004, the weekday broadsheet was withdrawn from sale in Northern Ireland. Since 1 November 2004, the paper has been printed solely in tabloid format.

The Conservative Party announced plans to launch litigation against The Times over an incident in which the newspaper claimed that Conservative election strategist Lynton Crosby had admitted that his party would not win the 2005 General Election. The Times later published a clarification, and the litigation was dropped.

On 6 June 2005, The Times redesigned its Letters page, dropping the practice of printing correspondents' full postal addresses. Published letters were long regarded as one of the paper's key constituents. Author/solicitor David Green of Castle Morris Pembrokeshire has had more letters published on the main letters page than any other known contributor – 158 by 31 January 2008. According to its leading article, "From Our Own Correspondents", removal of full postal addresses was in order to fit more letters onto the page.

In a 2007 meeting with the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, which was investigating media ownership and the news, Murdoch stated that the law and the independent board prevented him from exercising editorial control.^[22]

In May 2008 printing of The Times switched from Wapping to new plants at Broxbourne on the outskirts of London, and Merseyside and Glasgow, enabling the paper to be produced with full colour on every page for the first time.

Some^[who?] allege that The Times' partisan opinion pieces also damage its status as 'paper of record,' particularly when attacking interests that go against those of its parent company – News International. In 2010 it published an opinion piece attacking the BBC for being 'one of a group of' signatories to a letter criticising BSkyB share options in October 2010.^[23]

In March 2012, it became the first British newspaper to formally endorse same-sex marriage.

Content[link]

Copies of The Times and supplements from December 2005

The Times features news for the first half of the paper with the leading articles on the second page, the Opinion/Comment section begins after the first news section with world news normally following this. The business pages begin on the centre spread, and are followed by The Register, containing obituaries, Court & Social section, and related material. The sport section is at the end of the main paper.

[edit] Times2

The Times's main supplement is the times2, featuring various lifestyle columns.^{[clarification needed]} It was discontinued on 1 March 2010 but reintroduced on 11 October 2010 after negative feedback. Its regular features include a puzzles section called Mind Games. Its previous incarnation began on 5 September 2005, before which it was called T2 and previously Times 2. Regular features include columns by a different columnist each weekday. There was a column by Marcus du Sautoy each Wednesday, for example. The back pages are devoted to puzzles and contain sudoku, "Killer Sudoku", "KenKen", word polygon puzzles, and a crossword simpler and more concise than the main "Times Crossword".

The supplement contains arts and lifestyle features, TV and radio listings and reviews.

[edit] The Game

The Game is included in the newspaper on Mondays, and details all the weekend's football activity (Premier League and Football League Championship, League One and League Two.) The Scottish edition of The Game also includes results and analysis from Scottish Premier League games.

Saturday supplements[link]

The Saturday edition of The Times contains a variety of supplements. These supplements were relaunched in January 2009 as: Sport, Weekend (including travel and lifestyle features), Saturday Review (arts, books, and ideas), The Times Magazine (columns on various topics), and Playlist (an entertainment listings guide).

Saturday Review is the first regular supplement published in broadsheet format since the paper switched to a compact size in 2004.

At the beginning of summer 2011 Saturday Review switched to the tabloid format

The Times Magazine features columns touching on various subjects such as celebrities, fashion and beauty, food and drink, homes and gardens or simply writers' anecdotes. Notable contributors include Giles Coren, Food and Drink Writer of the Year in 2005.

Online presence[link]

The Times and The Sunday Times have had an online presence since March 1999, originally at the-times.co.uk and sunday-times.co.uk, and later at timesonline.co.uk.^[24] There are now two websites: thetimes.co.uk is aimed at daily readers, and the thesundaytimes.co.uk site at providing weekly magazine-like content. There are also iPad and Android editions of both newspapers. Since July 2010, News International has required readers who do not subscribe to the print edition to pay £2 per week to read The Times and The Sunday Times online.^[25]

Visits to the websites have decreased by 87% since the paywall was introduced, from 21 million unique users per month to 2.7 million.^[26] In April 2009, the timesonline site had a readership of 750,000 readers per day.^[27] As of October 2011, there were around 111,000 subscribers to the Times' digital products ^[28]

Ownership[link]

John Walter, the founder of The Times

The Times has had the following eight owners since its foundation in 1785:

• 1785 to 1803 - John Walter;
• 1803 to 1847 - John Walter, 2nd;
• 1847 to 1894 - John Walter, 3rd;
• 1894 to 1908 - Arthur Fraser Walter;
• 1908 to 1922 - Lord Northcliffe;
• 1922 to 1966 - Astor family;
• 1966 to 1981 - Roy Thomson; and
• 1981 to present - News International (a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation, run by Rupert Murdoch).

Readership[link]

At the time of Harold Evans' appointment as editor in 1981, The Times had an average daily sale of 282,000 copies, in comparision to the 1.4 million daily sales of its traditional rival The Daily Telegraph.^[29] By November 2005 The Times sold an average of 691,283 copies per day, the second-highest of any British "quality" newspaper (after The Daily Telegraph, which had a circulation of 903,405 copies in the period), and the highest in terms of full-rate sales.^[30] By March 2012 The Times' average daily circulation had fallen to 394,102 copies, compared to The Daily Telegraph's 576,378, with the two retaining respectively the second-highest and highest circulations among British "quality" newspapers.^[1] In contrast The Sun, the highest-selling "tabloid" daily newspaper in the United Kingdom, sold an average of 2,614,725 copies in March 2012, and the Daily Mail, the highest-selling "middle market" British daily newspaper, sold an average of 1,952,524 copies in the period.^[1]

In a 2009 national readership survey The Times was found to have the highest number of ABC1 25–44 readers and the largest numbers of readers in London of any of the "quality" papers.^[31]

Typeface[link]

An example of the Times New Roman font

In 1908 The Times started using the Monotype Modern typeface.^[32]

The Times commissioned the serif typeface Times New Roman, created by Victor Lardent at the English branch of Monotype, in 1931.^[33] It was commissioned after Stanley Morison had written an article criticizing The Times for being badly printed and typographically antiquated.^[34] The font was supervised by Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of The Times. Morison used an older font named Plantin as the basis for his design, but made revisions for legibility and economy of space. Times New Roman made its debut in the 3 October 1932 issue of The Times newspaper.^[35] After one year, the design was released for commercial sale. The Times stayed with Times New Roman for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused the newspaper to switch font five times since 1972. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman font:

• Times Europa was designed by Walter Tracy in 1972 for The Times, as a sturdier alternative to the Times font family, designed for the demands of faster printing presses and cheaper paper. The typeface features more open counter spaces.
• Times Roman replaced Times Europa on 30 August 1982.^[36]
• Times Millennium was made in 1991,^[36] drawn by Gunnlaugur Briem on the instructions of Aurobind Patel, composing manager of News International.
• Times Classic first appeared in 2001.^[37] Designed as an economical face by the British type team of Dave Farey and Richard Dawson, it took advantage of the new PC-based publishing system at the newspaper, while obviating the production shortcomings of its predecessor Times Millennium. The new typeface included 120 letters per font. Initially the family comprised ten fonts, but a condensed version was added in 2004.
• Times Modern was unveiled on 20 November 2006, as the successor of Times Classic.^[36] Designed for improving legibility in smaller font sizes, it uses 45-degree angled bracket serifs. The font was published by Elsner + Flake as EF Times Modern; it was designed by Research Studios, led by Ben Preston (deputy editor of The Times) and designer Neville Brody.^[38]

Political allegiance[link]

The Times had declared its support for Clement Attlee's Labour at the 1945 general election; the party went on to win the election by a landslide over Winston Churchill's Conservative government. However, the newspaper reverted to the Tories for the next election five years later. It supported the Conservatives for the subsequent three elections, followed by support for both the Conservatives and the Liberal Party for the next five elections, expressly supporting a Con-Lib coalition in 1974. The paper then backed the Conservatives solidly until 2001.

For the 2001 general election The Times declared its support for Tony Blair's Labour government, which was re-elected by a landslide. It supported Labour again in 2005, when Labour achieved a third successive win, though with a reduced majority.^[39] For the 2010 general election, however, the newspaper declared its support for the Tories once again; the election ended in the Tories taking the most votes and seats but having to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to form a government as they had failed to gain an overall majority.^[40]

This makes it the most varied newspaper in terms of political support in British history.^[41]

Sponsorships[link]

The Times, along with the British Film Institute, sponsors the "The Times" bfi London Film Festival.

The Times sponsors the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature at Asia House, London.

Notable people[link]

Editors[link]

Notable columnists and journalists[link]

Related publications[link]

[edit] Times Literary Supplement

The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) is a separately-paid-for weekly literature and society magazine.

[edit] The Times Science Review

Between 1951 and 1966 The Times published a separately-paid-for quarterly science review, The Times Science Review. Remarkably, in 1953 both the newspaper and its science supplement failed to report on the discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge, which was reported on by both the News Chronicle and The New York Times.

The Times started a new (but free) monthly science magazine, Eureka, in October 2009.

Times Atlases[link]

(Times Books Group Ltd)

• The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 2007 ISBN 978-0-00-780150-3

In fiction[link]

• In the dystopian future world of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Times has been transformed into the organ of the totalitarian ruling party, its editorials—of which several are quoted in the book—reflecting Big Brother's pronouncements.
• Rex Stout's fictional detective Nero Wolfe is described as fond of solving the London Times' crossword puzzle at his New York home, in preference to those of American papers.
• In the James Bond series by Ian Fleming, James Bond, reads The Times. As described by Fleming in From Russia, with Love: "The Times was the only paper that Bond ever read."

See also[link]

Journalism portal

• List of newspapers by date

[edit] References

Further reading[link]

• Evans‏, Harold (1983). Good Times, Bad Times. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-78295-9  - includes sections of black-and-white photographic plates, plus a few charts and diagrams in text pages.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Times

Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Times

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Times

• Official website (Mobile)
• The Sunday Times site
• Times World Atlases official website including a History and Heritage section detailing landmark Times atlases
• Archive from 1785 to 2006 – full text and original layout, searchable (not free of charge, registration required)
• Neil, Andrew; Griffiths, Ian; Fitzpatrick, Barry (15 January 2006). "Three views of the industrial dispute twenty years on". The Observer (UK). http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1686500,00.html. 
• The Times editor Robert Thomson lecture online: From the editorial desk of The Times, RMIT School of Applied Communication Public Lecture series
• Anthony Trollope's satire on the mid-nineteenth century Times
• Journalism Now: The Times Winchester University Journalism History project on the Times in the nineteenth century

v t e Media in the United Kingdom   Newspapers, magazines and other periodicals Newspapers National Berliner: The Guardian · The Observer · Broadsheet: Financial Times · The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph · The Sunday Times · Compact: i · The Independent, The Independent on Sunday · The Times · Middle-market: Daily Express, Sunday Express · Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday · Tabloid: Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror · Morning Star · The People · Daily Star, Daily Star Sunday · The Sun · Sunday Sport Regional and local Local newspapers in England · Regional newspapers in England · Newspapers in Northern Ireland · Newspapers in Scotland · Newspapers in Wales Other resources Defunct newspapers · Editors · Fleet Street · History · Journalists · Specialist newspapers · List by circulation Magazines and other periodicals Arts magazines · Business magazines · Comics · Defunct magazines · Fashion magazines · Literary magazines · Political magazines · Satirical magazines · Science and technology magazines · Women's magazines · List of magazines by circulation   Radio National stations BBC Analogue/digital: Radio 1 · Radio 2 · Radio 3 · Radio 4 · Radio 5 Live · Digital: Radio 1Xtra · Radio 4 Extra · Radio 5 Live Sports Extra · 6 Music · Asian Network · BBC National DAB (multiplex) Commercial Analogue/digital: Absolute Radio · Classic FM · Talksport · Digital: Absolute 80s · Absolute Radio 90s · Absolute Radio Extra · Amazing Radio · BFBS Radio · Digital One (multiplex) · Jazz FM · Planet Rock · Premier Christian Radio · Smooth Radio UK · UCB UK Regional and local stations BBC List of BBC Local Radio stations · List of BBC Regional Radio stations Commercial List of community radio stations · List of local commercial radio stations · List of semi-national analogue and digital stations Other stations List of hospital radio stations · Pirate radio · Restricted Service Licence (List of RSL stations) · List of satellite radio stations · List of student and schools radio Other Broadcasting companies · Broadcasting House · FM broadcasting · MediaCityUK · People · Programmes · Radio Academy · Radio Independents Group · RAJAR · Sony Radio Academy Awards · Most-listened-to programs   Television Principal channels BBC Analogue/digital: BBC One · BBC Two · Digital: BBC Three · BBC Four · BBC News · BBC Parliament · CBBC · CBeebies · BBC Alba · HD: BBC HD BSkyB Digital: Challenge · Pick TV · Sky1 · Sky2 · Sky 3D · Sky Arts · Sky Atlantic · Sky Betting and Gaming · Sky Living · Sky Livingit · Sky Movies · Sky Movies Box Office · Sky News · Sky Sports · Sky Sports F1 · Sky Sports News Channel Four Analogue/digital: Channel 4 · Digital: E4 · Film4 · More4 · 4seven · S4C Channel 5 Analogue/digital: Channel 5 · Digital: 5* · 5USA ITV Network Analogue/digital: ITV · Digital: ITV2 · ITV3 · ITV4 · CITV UKTV Digital: Alibi · Blighty · Dave · Eden · Gold · Good Food · Home · Really · Watch · Yesterday Services and platforms 4oD (Film4oD) · Analogue (Analogue terrestrial) · BBC iPlayer · blinkbox · BT Vision · Cable · Demand 5 · Digital (Digital terrestrial · List of channels) · Freesat (Freesat+ · List of channels) · Freeview (Freeview+) · Freewire (List of channels) · High-definition (List of channels) · ITV (ITV Player · STV Player) · Real Digital · Restricted Service Licence · Satellite (List of channels) · Sky (Freesat from Sky · Sky Anytime · Sky Anytime+ · Sky+ · Sky+ HD · List of channels) · Smallworld Cable (List of channels) · TalkTalk TV (List of channels) · Top Up TV · TVCatchup (List of channels) · Virgin Media (FilmFlex · TiVo · V+ · List of channels) · WightCable · YouView · Zattoo (List of channels) Studios BBC Pacific Quay · BBC Television Centre · Broadcasting House · Broadcasting House (Cardiff) · The Fountain Studios · The Leeds Studios · MediaCityUK · Granada Studios · Roath Lock · Teddington Studios Other Awards · Defunct channels · Edinburgh International Television Festival · History (List of years) · List of channels · Production companies · Programmes · Student television · Viewing statistics (Most-watched broadcasts)   Companies and organisations Companies Major companies Aegis Group · Archant · BBC · Bloomsbury Publishing · British Sky Broadcasting · BT Group · Channel Four · Chrysalis Group · Daily Mail and General Trust · Economist Group · EMAP · EMI Group · Endemol UK · Global Radio · Guardian Media Group · Haymarket Group · Informa · IPC Media · ITN · ITV · Johnston Press · Mecom Group · News International · Newsquest · Northern & Shell · Pearson · Press Holdings · Reed Elsevier · Reuters · STV Group · Syco · TalkTalk Group · Trinity Mirror · UBM · UTV Media · Virgin Media Other resources Broadcasting companies · Defunct media companies · Publishing companies (List of largest UK book publishers) · Record labels Government and regulatory bodies Advertising Standards Authority · BBC Trust · British Board of Film Classification · British Film Institute · Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee · Department for Culture, Media and Sport · Ofcom · Press Complaints Commission · UK Film Council · Welsh Fourth Channel Authority Industry and trades bodies British Academy of Film and Television Arts · British Phonographic Industry · Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union · Clearcast · Digital TV Group · Digital UK · Equity · Federation Against Copyright Theft · National Union of Journalists · The Publishers Association · Royal Television Society · United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting Other BBC Academy · National Film and Television School · National Media Museum   Regional and student media Regional media Media in England (Media in Birmingham · Media in London · Media in Manchester) · Media in Northern Ireland · Media in Scotland (Media in Aberdeen · Media in Dundee · Media in Glasgow) · Media in Wales (Media in Cardiff) Student media Student television Category ·  Commons

Seattle
—  City  —
City of Seattle
Flag of Seattle Flag Official seal of Seattle Seal
Nickname(s): The Emerald City, Seatown, Rain City, Jet City, Gateway to Alaska, Gateway to The Pacific, Queen City
Location of Seattle in King County and Washington
Seattle Location in the United States
Coordinates: 47°36′35″N 122°19′59″W / 47.60972°N 122.33306°W / 47.60972; -122.33306Coordinates: 47°36′35″N 122°19′59″W / 47.60972°N 122.33306°W / 47.60972; -122.33306
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	King
Incorporated	December 2, 1869
Government
• Mayor	Michael McGinn
• City Council	List of councilors
Area
• City	142.5 sq mi (369.2 km2)
• Land	83.87 sq mi (217.2 km2)
• Water	58.67 sq mi (152 km2)
• Metro	8,186 sq mi (21,202 km2)
Elevation	0–520 ft (0–158 m)
Population (April 1, 2010)[1][2][3][4]
• City	608,660 (US: 23rd)
• Density	7,361/sq mi (2,842/km2)
• Urban	2,712,205
• Metro	3,439,809 (US: 15th)
• Demonym	Seattleite
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes	Zip codes[5] 98101, 98102, 98103, 98104, 98105, 98106, 98107, 98108, 98109, 98110, 98111, 98112, 98113, 98114, 98115, 98116, 98117, 98118, 98119, 98121, 98122, 98124, 98125, 98126, 98127, 98129, 98131, 98132, 98133, 98134, 98136, 98138, 98139, 98141, 98144, 98145, 98146, 98148, 98151, 98154, 98155, 98158, 98160, 98161, 98164, 98165, 98166, 98168, 98170, 98171, 98174, 98175, 98177, 98178, 98181, 98184, 98185, 98188, 98190, 98191, 98194, 98195, 98198, 98199
Area code(s)	206
FIPS code	53-63000[6]
GNIS feature ID	1512650[7]
Website	www.Seattle.gov

Seattle (pronounced /siːˈætɫ̩/ ( listen) see-AT-əl or /siːˈæɾɫ̩/) is the county seat of King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country.^[8] The city is a major coastal seaport situated on a narrow isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 114 miles (183 km) south of the Canada–United States border. In 2010, Seattle was the sixth busiest port in the United States, serving as a major gateway for trade with Asia.^[9]

The Seattle area had been inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent white settlers.^[10] Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to its current site and renamed "Seattle" in 1853, after Chief Seattle of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.

Logging was Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. By 1910, Seattle was one of the 25 largest cities in the country.^[11] However, the Great Depression severely damaged the city's economy. Growth returned during and after World War II, due partially to the local Boeing company, which established Seattle as a center for aircraft manufacturing. The city developed as a technology center in the 1980s. The stream of new software, biotechnology, and internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by 50,000 between 1990 and 2000. More recently, Seattle has become a hub for "green" industry and a model for sustainable development.

Seattle has a noteworthy musical history. From 1918 to 1951, there were nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs along Jackson Street in the current Chinatown/International District. The jazz scene developed the early careers of Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson and others. Seattle is also the birthplace of rock legend Jimi Hendrix and the rock music style known as "grunge,"^[12] which was made famous by local groups Melvins, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. In more recent years, Seattle has been known for indie rock and indie dance music.

History[link]

Founding[link]

The Battle of Seattle (1856)

Archaeological excavations suggest that humans have inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years.^[10] By the time the first European settlers arrived in the area, the people (subsequently called the Duwamish tribe) occupied at least seventeen villages in the areas around Elliott Bay.^[13][14][15]

The first European to visit the Seattle area was George Vancouver, in May 1792 during his 1791–95 expedition to chart the Pacific Northwest.^[16]

In 1851, a large party led by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of the Duwamish River; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851.^[17] Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party.^[18] Members of the Denny Party claimed land on Alki Point on September 28, 1851.^[19] The rest of the Denny Party set sail from Portland, Oregon and landed on Alki point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851.^[19]

First Avenue at Columbia Street, c. 1870

After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and founded the village of "Dewamps" or "Duwamps" on the site of present day Pioneer Square.^[19] Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing location and established a village they initially called "New York", but renamed "New York Alki" in April 1853, from a Chinook word meaning, roughly, "by and by" or "someday".^[20] For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers.^[21]

David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, one of Duwamps's founders, was the primary advocate to rename the village "Seattle" after Chief Sealth ("Seattle") of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.^[22][23][24] The term, "Seattle", appears on official Washington Territory papers dated May 23, 1853, when the first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with a board of trustees managing the city. Two years later, after a petition was filed by most of the leading citizens, the Legislature disincorporated the town. In 1867, a young French Canadian Catholic priest named Francis X. Prefontaine arrived in Seattle and decided to establish a parish there. During 1868–69 he built the church by raising the money at fairs in the Puget Sound area and doing much of the work himself, and in 1869 he opened Seattle’s first Catholic church at Third Avenue and Washington Street, on the site where the present-day Prefontaine Building stands. The town of Seattle remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869 when a new petition was filed and the city was re-incorporated with a Mayor-council government.^[19][25] The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries the date "1869."

Timber town[link]

Seattle's first streetcar, at the corner of Occidental and Yesler, 1884. All of the buildings visible in this picture were destroyed by fire five years later.

Seattle has a history of boom and bust cycles, as is common to cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure.^[26]

The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, was fueled by the lumber industry. (During this period the road now known as Yesler Way was nicknamed "Skid Road",^[27] after the timber skidding down the hill to Henry Yesler's sawmill. This is considered a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon as Skid Row.)^[26] Like much of the American West, Seattle saw numerous conflicts between labor and management, as well as ethnic tensions that culminated in the anti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886.^[28] This violence was caused by unemployed whites who determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle (anti-Chinese riots also occurred in Tacoma). In 1900, Asians were 4.2% of the population.^[29] Martial law was declared, and federal troops were brought in to put down the disorder. Nevertheless, the economic success in the Seattle area was so great that when the Great Seattle fire of 1889 destroyed the central business district, a far grander city center rapidly emerged in its place.^[30] Finance company Washington Mutual, for example, was founded in the immediate wake of the fire.^[31] This boom was followed by the construction of a park system, designed by the Olmsted brothers' landscape architecture firm.^[26] However, the Panic of 1893 hit Seattle hard.^[32]

Gold Rush, World War I, and the Great Depression[link]

The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition had just over 3.7 million visitors during its 138-day run^[33]

The second and most dramatic boom and bust resulted from the Klondike Gold Rush, which ended the depression that had begun with the Panic of 1893; in a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, the S.S. Portland docked with its famed "ton of gold", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for the miners in Alaska and the Yukon. Few of those working men found lasting wealth, however; it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities like Everett, Tacoma, Port Townsend, Bremerton, and Olympia, all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather than mother-lodes for extraction, of precious metals.^[34] The boom lasted well into the early part of the 20th century and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-old James E. Casey borrowed $100 from a friend and founded the American Messenger Company (later UPS). Other Seattle companies founded during this period include Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer.^[31] The Gold Rush era culminated in the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today's University of Washington campus.^[35]

Pioneer Square in 1917 featuring the Smith Tower, the Seattle Hotel and to the left the Pioneer Building

A shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century became massive during World War I, making Seattle somewhat of a company town; the subsequent retrenchment led to the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the first general strike in the country.^[36] A 1912 city development plan by Virgil Bogue went largely unused. Seattle was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during the Maritime Strike of 1934 cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to the Port of Los Angeles.^[37]

Seattle was also the home base of impresario Alexander Pantages who, starting in 1902, opened a number of theaters in the city exhibiting vaudeville acts and silent movies. His activities soon expanded, and the thrifty Greek went on and became one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Between Pantages and his rival John Considine, Seattle was for a while the western United States' vaudeville mecca. B. Marcus Priteca, the Scottish-born and Seattle-based architect, built several theaters for Pantages, including some in Seattle. The theaters he built for Pantages in Seattle have been either demolished or converted to other uses, but many other theaters survive in other cities of the USA, often retaining the Pantages name; Seattle's surviving Paramount Theatre, on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater.

Post-war years: aircraft and software[link]

War work again brought local prosperity during World War II, this time centered on Boeing aircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to the Japanese American internment. After war, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercial airliner market.^[38] Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with the Century 21 Exposition, the 1962 World's Fair.^[39] Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading "Will the last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights."^[40]

Building the Seattle Center Monorail, 1961. Looking up Fifth Avenue from Virginia Street.

Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago.^[41] The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's Renton narrow-body plant (where the 707, 720, 727, and 757 were assembled, and the 737 is assembled today) and Everett wide-body plant (assembly plant for the 747, 767, 777, and 787). The company's credit union for employees, BECU, remains based in the Seattle area, though it is now open to all residents of Washington.

As prosperity began to return in the 1980s, the city was stunned by the Wah Mee massacre in 1983, when 13 people were killed in an illegal gambling club in the International District, Seattle's Chinatown.^[42] Beginning with Microsoft's 1979 move from Albuquerque, New Mexico to nearby Bellevue, Washington,^[43] Seattle and its suburbs became home to a number of technology companies including Amazon.com, RealNetworks, McCaw Cellular (now part of AT&T Mobility), VoiceStream (now T-Mobile USA), and biomedical corporations such as HeartStream (later purchased by Philips), Heart Technologies (later purchased by Boston Scientific), Physio-Control (later purchased by Medtronic), ZymoGenetics, ICOS (later purchased by Eli Lilly and Company) and Immunex (later purchased by Amgen). This success brought an influx of new citizens with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000,^[44] and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country.^[45] Many of the Seattle area's tech companies remain relatively strong, but the frenzied dot-com boom years ended in early 2001.^[46][47]

Downtown Seattle and a ferry at the Central Waterfront.

Seattle in this period attracted widespread attention as home to these many companies, but also by hosting the 1990 Goodwill Games^[48] and the APEC leaders conference in 1993, as well as through the worldwide popularity of grunge, a sound that had developed in Seattle's independent music scene.^[49] Another bid for worldwide attention—hosting the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999—garnered visibility, but not in the way its sponsors desired, as related protest activity and police reactions to those protests overshadowed the conference itself.^[50] The city was further shaken by the Mardi Gras Riots in 2001, and was literally shaken the following day by the Nisqually Earthquake.^[51]

The UK consulting firm Mercer, in a 2011 assessment "conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments", ranked Seattle 48th worldwide in quality of living; the survey factored in political stability, personal freedom, sanitation, crime, housing, the natural environment, recreation, banking facilities, availability of consumer goods, education, and public services including transportation.^[52]

Geography[link]

Panorama of Seattle as seen from the Space Needle: a nearly 360-degree view that includes (from left) Puget Sound, Queen Anne Hill, Lake Union, Capitol Hill, downtown Seattle, Elliott Bay, and West Seattle.

With a total area of 83.9 square miles, Seattle lies in the geographical co-ordinates of 47.37 North latitude and 122.20 West longitude. The topography of Seattle is hilly. Seattle lies on seven hills including Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Magnolia, Denny Hill and Queen Anne. The Kitsap and the Olympic peninsulas along with the Olympic mountains lie to the west of Puget Sound, while the Cascade Range and Lake Sammamish lie to the east of Lake Washington. The lush green forests and the numerous water bodies have provided livelihood for many hunting and gathering communities.

Topography[link]

Downtown Seattle is bounded by Elliott Bay (lower left), lower Broadway (from upper left to lower right), Yesler Way (lower right), and Denny Way (obscured by clouds).

Seattle is located between Puget Sound (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean) to the west and Lake Washington to the east. The city's chief harbor, Elliott Bay, is an inlet of Puget Sound. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are the Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and the eastside suburbs, are Lake Sammamish and the Cascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through the Lake Washington Ship Canal (consisting of two man-made canals, Lake Union, and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks at Salmon Bay, ending in Shilshole Bay).

The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. The surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round.^{[53] [54]}

The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so.^[55] Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills;^[56] the lists vary, but typically include Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the former Denny Hill. The Wallingford, Mount Baker, and Crown Hill neighborhoods are technically located on hills as well. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.^[57] The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, the result of two of the many regrading projects that reshaped the topography of the city center.^[58] The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of a seawall and the artificial Harbor Island (completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway. The highest point within city limits is at High Point in West Seattle, roughly located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. Other notable hills include Crown Hill, View Ridge/Wedgwood/Bryant, Maple Leaf, Phinney Ridge, Mt. Baker Ridge, and Highlands/Carkeek/Bitterlake.

Boats gather on Lake Union in preparation for the July 4 fireworks show.

North of the city center, Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water: Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Union Bay.

Due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire, Seattle is in a major earthquake zone. On February 28, 2001, the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake did significant architectural damage, especially in the Pioneer Square area (built on reclaimed land, as are the Industrial District and part of the city center), but caused no fatalities.^[59] Other strong quakes occurred on January 26, 1700 (estimated at 9 magnitude), December 14, 1872 (7.3 or 7.4),^[59] April 13, 1949 (7.1),^[60] and April 29, 1965 (6.5).^[61] The 1949 quake caused eight known deaths, all in Seattle;^[60] the 1965 quake caused three deaths in Seattle directly, and one more by heart failure.^[61] Although the Seattle Fault passes just south of the city center, neither it^[62] nor the Cascadia subduction zone has caused an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill.^[63]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km²),^[64] 83.9 square miles (217 km²) of which is land and 58.7 square miles (152 km²) water (41.16% of the total area).

Surrounding municipalities[link]

	Bainbridge Island	Shoreline	Lake Forest Park
	Puget Sound		Mercer Island
		Seattle    East
	Vashon Island	Burien	Renton

Climate[link]

Downtown Seattle averages 71 clear (sunny) days a year, with most of those days occurring between May and September^[65]

Seattle's climate is usually described as temperate marine, with fairly mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Like much of the Pacific Northwest, according to the Köppen climate classification it falls within a cool, dry-summer subtropical zone (Csb), with 'cool'-summer Mediterranean characteristics.^[66] Other climate classification systems, such as Trewartha, place it firmly in the Oceanic zone (Do).^[67]

Temperature extremes are moderated by adjacent Puget Sound, the greater Pacific Ocean, and Lake Washington. The region is largely denied Pacific storms by the Olympic Mountains and Arctic air by the Cascade Range. Despite being on the margin of the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, the city has a misleading reputation for frequent rain.^[68] This reputation comes from the frequency of precipitation in the winter. In an average year, more than 0.01 in/0.3 mm of precipitation falls on 150 days. It is cloudy 201 days and partly cloudy 93 days.^[65] The location of official weather and climatic records, the Seattle-Tacoma (nicknamed Sea-Tac) International Airport, is located about 12 miles south of downtown in the city of SeaTac, and records more cloudy days and fewer partly cloudy days per year.^[69] For this reason, official weather and climatic records do not actually reflect the weather and climate conditions of the city proper.

At 944mm (37.49 in.), in reality, the city receives less precipitation annually than New York City (1201 mm, 47.28 in.), Atlanta (1290 mm, 50.79 in.), Boston (1055 mm, 41.53 in.), Baltimore (1038 mm, 40.87 in.), Portland, Maine (1128 mm, 44.41 in.), Jacksonville, Florida (1304 mm, 51.34 in.), and most cities on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. Seattle was also not listed in a study that revealed the 10 rainiest cities in the continental United States. This is due largely to Seattle's dry summers, which result in statistically moderate annual accumulations. However, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, Seattle is becoming wetter; the current annual rainfall average of 37.49 inches reflects an increase of .42 inches.^[70] Seattle receives the largest amount of rainfall of any major (pop > 250,000) U.S. city in November, and is in the top 10 through Winter, but is in the lower half of all cities June–September. Thunderstorms are rare. Seattle reports thunder on just seven days per year^[71] For comparison, Fort Myers, Florida reports thunder on 93 days per year Kansas City 52, and New York City 25.

There are occasional downpours. One downpour occurred on December 2–4, 2007, when sustained hurricane-force winds and widespread heavy rainfall associated with a strong "Pineapple Express" event occurred in the greater Puget Sound area and the western parts of Washington and Oregon. People blamed heavy rain and strong winds for several power outages and at least four deaths. Interstate 5 at Chehalis, Washington was flooded and closed for almost two days. Precipitation totals exceeded 14 inches (356 mm) in some areas with winds topping out at 130 mph (209 km/hr) along coastal Oregon. ^[72] It became the second wettest event in Seattle history when a little over 5 inches (130 mm) of rain fell on Seattle in a 24 hour period. People claim the rain indirectly led to five deaths and widespread flooding and damage.^[73]

Early spring, late fall, and winter are frequently characterized by drizzle. Winters are cool and wet with average lows in the mid 30s °F (2–4 °C) on winter nights. Colder weather does sometimes occur. Summers are fairly dry and warm by comparison, with average daytime highs around 74 °F (23 °C). Hotter weather occurs during some summer days. Seattle's hottest official recorded temperature was 103 °F (39 °C) on July 29, 2009;^[74] the coldest recorded temperature was 0 °F (−18 °C) on January 31, 1950.^[75] Eastern suburbs of Seattle, such as Bellevue and Issaquah, are typically even hotter when the temperature soars above 80 °F (27 °C), due to their location closer to downslope winds from the Cascade Mountains and further from Puget Sound; on Seattle's recorded hottest day of July 29, 2009, parts of south Bellevue, Renton, and Issaquah peaked at 110 °F (43 °C).^[76]

Between October and May, Seattle is mostly or partly cloudy six out of every seven days^[65]