Seattle got a burst of summer on Tuesday, with temperatures climbing above 80 degrees, but the city is headed back toward a wetter, cooler pattern by midweek and into the weekend. Wednesday is expected to stay mostly cloudy with a high near 71 degrees, and there is a 20% chance of rain after 4 a.m. Wednesday night.
That quick swing is why Seattle weather is drawing attention now: people planning ahead for the rest of the week need to know that the warm spell does not last. Tuesday night should dip to around 59 degrees, Thursday carries another 20% chance of rain before 11 a.m. and a high of 68, and Friday looks even more unsettled with a 30% chance of rain after 11 a.m. and temperatures only in the 60s.
The strongest change comes Friday night, when showers are likely, a possible thunderstorm is in the forecast before 11 p.m., rain is expected again after 11 p.m., and the low falls to around 49 degrees. Saturday should stay showery as well, with another possible thunderstorm after 11 a.m. and a mostly cloudy high near 61 degrees, before Sunday turns mostly sunny again with a high near 67 degrees.
Scott Sistek said the pattern is easy to misread, especially for people looking at NOAA’s seasonal outlook map and assuming it is calling for a historically hot summer or winter. It does not predict actual temperatures, he said. What it shows is forecasters’ confidence, and Sistek said they have given the period roughly a 50-60% probability of running warmer than average.
That kind of outlook matters beyond this week’s forecast because Sistek said warmer temperatures can intensify wildfire risk and threaten next winter’s snowpack. For now, though, Seattle’s immediate story is simpler: after one warm day, the city is heading into clouds, a few shots of rain, and a weekend that could still bring thunder before the weather settles down again.
