Seattle Weather Forecast, Radar and Satellite

Today's Forecast

Updated Saturday 10:00 p.m.

Our Memorial Day Weekend is off and running, and it didn't start out half bad...while we did have quite a soaking along the coast and into the Willapa HIlls Saturday afternoon, most of the interior of the Sound managed to stay dry, even eeking out some occasional sunshine. Highs ranged from the 50s near rainy Hoquiam on up into the middle 60s in Seattle and Bellingham...a bit cooler than average, but not as drastically below the curve as we were earlier in the week.

Some of the showers are starting to rotate into the Sound tonight, so prepare for some wet pavement if you're out and about on the town. Skies will remain mainly cloudy, and lows will fall off into the upper 40s and low 50s.

The rest of the holiday weekend? More of the same. Our current pattern is dominated by a big upper level low parked over the Pacific Northwest. We are on the cool side of the jetstream, with most of the steadier rain driving south of us into Oregon. That low doesn't budge much on Sunday or Monday, so the slightly cool temps and occasional showers will remain in the forecast. Lows will drop into the 40s to low 50s on Memorial Day morning morning, and daytime highs will stay on either side of 60 degrees. Perhaps not the *best* weather for a holiday barbeque or picnic, but for most of us, it won't be soggy enough--long enough--to drive us completely indoors.

By Tuesday a front drops into the region, providing us with increasing clouds and eventual spring rain. HIghs will drop back into the upper 50s to near 60 on Tuesday, and it looks wet for most of Western Washington by the afternoon.

Showers will linger Wednesday, but we should be mainly dry by Thursday. This big low finally moves out of here late in the week, and we'll have a nice warming trend underway by next weekend. Upper 60s to near 70° should be widespread in Puget Sound by Friday and Saturday.

In the meantime, have a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend!
Shannon

Meteorologist Shannon O'Donnell
The KOMO4 Forecast Team

So far today...

High: 64°

Precip: Trace

Low: 50°

Normal

Record

67°

89° (2005)

49°

40° (1952)

Sunrise

5:20am

Sunset

8:53pm

Precipitation

Normal

Saturday

T"

0.06"

This Month

1.70"

1.55"

Since 1/1

16.07"

17.05"

Since 10/1

37.91"

32.45"

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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