Seattle weather: Real autumn weather returns Friday
If you've been craving autumn weather, you'll love our weekend forecast! A new storm system is set to swing through Western Washington Friday, bringing with it lowland rain, mountain snow and breezy conditions. Until then, smoke will remain a problem, especially today.
Highs this afternoon will reach for the mid to upper 60s to low 70s. The coast and Olympic Peninsula will enjoy mostly clean air, but air quality could be tough for many places along and east of the I-5 corridor (especially for communities surrounding the ongoing wildfires). Air quality could be "unhealthy for sensitive groups" to "unhealthy" or worse.
Here's the status of multiple fires as of this morning:
Here are some helpful air quality tools:
- https://pscleanair.gov/
- https://enviwa.ecology.wa.gov/home/map
- https://nwcleanairwa.gov/
- https://www.swcleanair.gov/
- https://www.orcaa.org/
Fire danger remains elevated today, but no Red Flag Warnings are in effect. The threat for wildfires drops slightly tomorrow thanks to a little more moisture in the atmosphere. Tomorrow, westerly winds will help push some smoke back over the Cascades and into Eastern Washington. With the return of wet weather beginning Friday, fire danger will plummet this weekend. Even though the rain will probably be net-positive, we'll have to watch for landslides and flooding over local burn scars. Stay tuned for more!
The European and American forecast models are predicting at least an inch of rain for Seattle from Friday to Tuesday.
In addition to the lowland rain, mountain snow is in the forecast starting Friday. There could be several inches of snow falling over the passes this weekend, especially for Stevens and White Passes. However, it won't be snowing constantly. In fact, precipitation may switch back-and-forth from rain to snow. Be prepared for slick roads and lowered visibility at times.
Check out our latest seven-day forecast: temperatures cool to the mid 50s this weekend and next workweek. It's time to put away your summer clothes because sweater weather is finally here!
Take good care,
Meteorologist Abby Acone
Follow me on Twitter @abbyacone, Instagram @abbyaconewx, TikTok @abbyaconetv and Facebook (Meteorologist Abby Acone)