Seattle Weather Forecast, Radar and Satellite

Today's Forecast

Updated Thursday 4:20 p.m.

Remember how Seattle smashed an all-time record with the first 14 days of May being at or warmer than 65 degrees?

No? I can't blame you.

A day after Seattle broke the record for coldest May 22nd on record with paltry high of 52, it's managed Thursday to get all of one degree warmer. It's as if all of a sudden we've adopted the "I can't drive 55" song as our mantra this week (although I believe the issue with the song was being stuck over 55, not under :) )

But 50s are what to expect when we steal our weather from Alaska. A low that was born up there has been aimlessly spinning around the Northwest this week and unleashing its Last Frontier chill, but is finally pegged to weaken a bit and allow our temperatures to climb closer to modern-day speed limits.

(Unless you were in the far North Sound and farther away from the low's effects. It actually was around 60 up in Skagit and Whatcom Counties)

Tonight will remain mostly cloudy with rain at times (especially central and south Sound areas), decreasing late. Lows will be in the mid 40s.

Friday should be a bit brighter, drier, and warmer as the low continues to move farther away. We'll still have a risk of showers but they'll be brief and light -- with more in the way of sunbreaks. Highs should "warm" into the low 60s for much of the area, except in the North Sound, where they'll remain in the low 60s.

We still have some very weak remnants of the low hanging around this weekend which will keep the atmosphere very weakly unstable. That means still a chance of showers, but they'll mainly be in the afternoon/evening and be primarily in the foothills and mountains. We can't say zero chance of rain around Seattle but it's probably not too much higher than zero -- maybe 10-20 percent. (I realize I am pressing our luck tapering rain expectations with it being a 3-day weekend) with Saturday's rain chances slightly higher than Sunday's. But for much of the area for the vast majority of the time, it'll be partly sunny days with highs in the mid 60s.

Memorial Day Monday is a bit of a wild card now as forecast models debate what to do with an incoming front. They all agree that Monday should start dry and stay that way through early afternoon. One model shoves that system farther south and leaves Monday dry but another now brings light rain in by mid to late afternoon. So stay tuned there. It does look like rain will be around on Tuesday as well unless that system totally turns south.

Long range models continue to stick with a showery pattern next week with highs around to perhaps a little below normal, but still warm enough to stay out of the slow-poke lane :)

Scott Sistek
KOMONews.com Meteorologist
Follow me on Twitter @ScottSKOMO and on Facebook.

So far today...

High: 49°

Precip: Trace

Low: 49°

Normal

Record

66°

89° (1992)

49°

37° (1975)

Sunrise

5:22am

Sunset

8:51pm

Precipitation

Normal

Thursday

0.16"

0.06"

This Month

1.69"

1.43"

Since 1/1

16.06"

16.93"

Since 10/1

37.90"

32.33"

Scott's Blog

Weather

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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