From record heat to record rain to … normal weather.
After frying in the mid-80s last week then drowning in a weekend-long downpour, calmer conditions have returned to Seattle—at least for today.
Sunny skies are blazing across Western Washington this morning as high pressure pops in from the west, promising to send afternoon temperatures into the mid 60s—about as warm as we’ve been since last Thursday’s sizzling high of 85. Of course, since then, we’ve also been inundated with a boatload of heavy rainfall, eclipsing the average monthly precipitation for May of 1.94 inches on Monday—just five days into the month.
Mercifully, the rain is nowhere to seen today, with all the pesky clouds of late even taking a backseat for once. Sunny weather should easily prevail through the rest of the day across Puget Sound. After peaking near 65 degrees, temperatures will lower into the mid-40s overnight—right about normal for this time of year.
Unfortunately, the rain returns in earnest tomorrow as a cold front approaches, spreading moisture back into the region by noon. By Thursday night, a solid half-inch of rain is expected in Seattle. While that’s far short of the copious amount that fell over the weekend—Seattle received 1.31 inches of rain alone last Saturday, making it the second-wettest day in May ever—the record for May 8 is only a meager 0.32 inches. So, once again, we’re likely to break another daily rainfall record tomorrow. If you’re keeping score, it’ll be the sixth one we’ve toppled this year.
The front moves through the state early Friday, with showers spilling over into the late morning hours. Clearing arrives Friday afternoon, but with a Puget Sound Convergence Zone taking shape north of Seattle, the risk of rain will continue into the evening. Still, the day should end on a drier note than Thursday.
We continue to dodge the showers on Saturday, but we should still see a fair amount of sunbreaks, with highs in the lower 60s. A stronger ridge of high pressure then bubbles up from the south on Sunday, nudging readings into the upper 60s as sunny weather takes charge.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t relinquish control again so quickly.
