Quiet Wednesday weather, rain returns for St. Patrick's Day

Mostly cloudy skies, rain returns Thursday

Mostly cloudy skies will part Wednesday afternoon, bringing in more sunshine to the mix.

Seattle - It's a nice quiet weather day around Western Washington as we get a break between wet systems. Mostly cloudy skies will part Wednesday afternoon, bringing in more sunshine to the mix.

With almost a quarter inch of rain Tuesday, we are right on track for the month at just over two inches of total rain. The weather pattern stays wet for Thursday and Friday.

Thursday morning a weak frontal system will move through Western Washington, bringing showers to the north end in the morning and eventually the central and south sound by the late afternoon. We will see 1-3" of snow in the Cascades tomorrow with a snow level around 3,500 feet.

Friday will feature a similar pattern of a dry morning and evening rain. This system will be stronger with heavier rain and more mountain snow. We could see up to six inches in the Cascades through Saturday morning.

Drier weather is on tap for Sunday and Monday with temps warming heading into the middle of next week.

A powerful earthquake hit off the northeast coast of Japan this morning our time and at 11:36 PM their time. The quake measured 7.3 magnitude and knocked out power to millions of people. A Tsunami Alert went into effect immediately for the Japan coastline, but no tsunami is expected on the west coast of the USA. Aftershocks could rattle the area for the next several days and weeks.