Talk about flipping a switch.
Our persistently drier-than-normal weather pattern, in place since early fall, came crashing to a halt this past week, with Seattle logging over 4 inches of rain since last Monday—more than the average rainfall for all of February. At Sea-Tac Airport, 1.04 inches of rain fell on Sunday, making it the rainiest day for the city since early November—and the wettest February day since 2000.
Not surprisingly, this month is now also our soggiest February in 14 years, with 4.35 inches of rain on the books and still nearly two weeks to go. And, after a bit of a respite today—showers will drift through from time to time, but the general trend will be toward drying—we’ll pad the stats even more tomorrow.
For the here and now, we’ll stay with mostly cloudy skies the rest of the morning, with more clearing building in during the afternoon. Temperatures will top out in the mid 40s, where they’ve more or less been residing since Saturday.
Tuesday’s system comes barreling ashore in the early morning hours, spreading more moderate to heavy rainfall back into the metro area by sunrise. Roughly an inch of rain is possible again from Seattle southward, with half-inch totals north of the city. If you want to escape the deluge, head over to Sequim or Whidbey Island, where rain shadowing off the Olympics will limit amounts to a quarter-inch or less.
Winds will also pick up again across the region by mid-morning tomorrow, gusting to 35 mph well into the afternoon. Overall, though, it’ll be much less blustery than the past few days, when speeds reached 50 mph throughout the Sound.
Steady rain tapers off Tuesday night, with just hit-or-miss showers roaming around for Wednesday. Most of the activity will be concentrated north and east of the city, with some sunbreaks possible in Seattle proper. With cooler air moving in overhead, though, temperatures will actually run a few degrees lower, maxing out below 45.
A parting shot of rain then comes through late Wednesday into Thursday, with most places collecting another half-inch before things finally start drying out. By Thursday afternoon, everyone should be basking under plenty of late-winter sunshine, with mostly sunny skies continuing through Friday.
In other words, just hang in there a few more days and the switch will be reset.
Is there gonna be snow in seattle this midnight and early morning tomorrow?
Nope–it won’t be cold enough overnight. There’s a better shot both Friday and Saturday mornings–but mainly east of I-5.