Seattle Weather Forecast, Radar and Satellite

Today's Forecast

Updated: Thursday 6:40 a.m.

We're still battling some wet roadways as you head out to work and school this morning. The showers stretch from Seattle to the Kitsap Peninsula and Tacoma to Olympia. The rain isn't as heavy as yesterday -- but some of the showers will pick up at times. In the Northwest Interior, it's not rain, just thick fog that will reduce your visibility to less than a quarter of a mile. Bottom line, take it easy on the roads!

We're looking for a slight -- yes, just a slight warmup later today. Indications are that sunbreaks should be a bit more prevalent between the showers as this pesky area of low pressure weakens a bit but also still the risk of a stray thundershower, too. Highs will reach the upper 50s to about 60 degrees. By Friday -- we'll still battle a few showers -- but a nice warmup, too (in the low 60s)!

Memorial Day Weekend still looks decent. With the remnants of the low still in the region, the foothills and mountains still might see a few afternoon showers on Saturday and Sunday due to a weakly unstable atmosphere but dry for the lowlands under partly sunny skies ). With the added sunshine, highs should climb into the mid (maybe even upper) 60s.

Enjoy!

Seth Wayne
KOMO 4cast Team
Email me: swayne@komotv.com

So far today...

High: 50°

Precip: 0.05"

Low: 46°

Normal

Record

66°

86° (1969)

49°

37° (1960)

Sunrise

5:24am

Sunset

8:48pm

Precipitation

Normal

Tuesday

0.54"

0.06"

This Month

0.99"

1.31"

Since 1/1

15.36"

16.81"

Since 10/1

37.20"

32.21"

Scott's Blog

Weather

(New) Intense thunderstorm upstages cruise ship entertainment (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 23, 2013 at 9:55 AM PDT

It's not often entertainment on board a cruise ship can be upstaged but on this particular night, Mother Nature gave it a shot.

Make that, several shots...

I took this video as the Disney Fantasy sailed into the Gulf of Mexico on May 1 just hours after it left a very hot and muggy Cozumel, Mexico.

(How hot? I went back and checked when I got home and it was 86 degrees with a 73 degree dew point that evening. Or as this Seattleite said: About 3 degrees cooler than molten lava. Though I'm sure many of the Florida residents on the ship probably thought it was a bit chilly.)

Weather Brrr! Seattle, Portland briefly tied for coldest major city in lower 48

By Scott Sistek Published: May 22, 2013 at 11:37 AM PDT Last Updated: May 22, 2013 at 1:08 PM PDT

Does it feel a bit like January out there today? Your skin does not deceive you.

A cold system from the Gulf of Alaska has settled into the Pacific Northwest, bringing not only a steady winter-like rain but has kept temperatures stuck in the 40s(!) through the late morning.

In fact, at 11 a.m., Seattle was stuck at 46 degrees -- about the average high for mid January. It's so cold in the Northwest that Seattle and Portland were tied as the coldest major cities in the lower 48 states -- and it wasn't even close! (Boise was at 50. Anchorage was also at 46. If we do lower our population threshold for "major city", Spokane checks in at 41.)

Portland would gradually take the trophy by itself as Seattle later warmed into the low 50s as Portland remained stuck in the mid 40s.

Weather How tornado victims got 36 minutes of precious warning time (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 21, 2013 at 12:18 PM PDT Last Updated: May 22, 2013 at 10:43 AM PDT

Thirty-six minutes.

That might not seem very long -- roughly about the time it takes to wade through your hourly drama if you blaze through commercials. But compared to a few decades ago, 36 minutes of time might have saved countless lives during the devastating tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma on Monday.

Years ago, the residents of Moore would have likely had no idea the tornado was coming until the twister was sighted, giving people barely a few minutes' notice. But thanks to advancements in technology, tornadoes rarely sneak up on anyone anymore.

In fact, forecasters as early as Wednesday began sounding the alarm for a potential severe weather breakout on Sunday and Monday. And, on Friday, the forecasts became more specific. On Monday, a Tornado Watch, which indicates conditions are right for tornadic development, was issued at 1:10 p.m. for much of Oklahoma, including the greater Oklahoma City area.

Weather "What does ''EF-4'' mean?' and other tornado questions answered

By Scott Sistek Published: May 20, 2013 at 4:10 PM PDT

With tornadoes in the news lately I figured it'd be a good time to post answers to some frequently asked questions about the powerful storms:

What does "EF-4" mean?

WIth the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, you'll be hearing a lot of about "EF" ratings -- that's from the Enhanced Fujita Scale that rates tornadoes on a scale of 0 to 5, 5 being the strongest.

The Moore tornado was given a preliminary rating of EF-4 ("Devastating") with estimated tornadic wind speeds of up to 200 mph, although many are thinking that rating could be increased to an EF-5 ("Incredible") once more damage assessment is done.

Sadly, it's not the first time Moore has had to deal with such a catastrophic storm. On May 3, 1999, Moore was struck by an EF-5 tornado which recorded the strongest wind speed ever registered near Earth's surface. this map provided by the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma shows just how close the two tracks were.

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