Dry Weather, At Long Last

Turns out Mother Nature is taking some time off for the holidays after all.

In fact, her vacation from Seattle gets underway today.

No wet weather is anticipated in Western Washington for the next several days, as an upper level ridge to our west rips apart incoming systems, sending their rainy remnants well south into California. This leaves us in a dry and cool wintertime pattern, with foggy mornings and crisp, partly sunny afternoons the rule of thumb through at least Wednesday.

The fog is likely to be fairly widespread at times, as the steady rains that have soaked us in recent weeks have left copious amounts of moisture in the air. In addition, winds are expected to remain on the light side, making it easier for the fog to settle in and stick around—especially in valleys and other low-lying areas around the South Sound.

That said, most places should see some sunshine each day through the middle of the week as the fog gradually burns off in the afternoon. Temperatures, however, will remain stuck in the upper 30s for the majority of daylight hours, only rising to the 40-degree mark in places where the sun takes hold earlier on. Overnight lows will fall close to 32 degrees around Seattle most nights, plummeting into the upper 20s outside the city.

Importantly, though, the rain will remain on hiatus for much of the coming week, with just a chance for sprinkles tomorrow afternoon as a weak weather system passes over Oregon. With measurable precipitation unlikely, our 2012 rainfall total should stay put at 48.26 inches—good enough for the seventh-wettest year on record at Sea-Tac Airport.  (First place belongs to 1950, with a whopping 55.14 inches.)

Some models advertise a return to soggier times later in the week—on Thursday or Friday—but even then, rainfall amounts hardly look impressive, at a quarter-inch or less. In any case, we’ll likely have run off a stretch of four or five pleasant, dry days by then, thanks to Mother Nature’s long-overdue vacation.

She really should hit the road more often, huh?