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Seattle has driest November in more than 40 years

Seattle got more rain in July and August combined than in November, which is statistically the wettest month of the year.

SEATTLE — Although western Washington got its first taste of snowflakes last week, that was about it for winter weather in November.

Seattle experienced its fourth driest November on record this year and the driest November since 1976, recording just 1.71 inches of rain at Sea-Tac Airport. That’s 4.86 inches less than average, or just 26% of normal precipitation, according to the National Weather Service. 

November is statistically the wettest month of the year in Seattle.

The area also only got measurable precipitation on nine days, which is half of what’s normal for November.

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To put November’s rainfall into perspective, we looked at Seattle’s rainfall in the summer. In July and August – which are typically the driest months of the year – Seattle got 2.35 inches of rain, which is 0.64 inches more than the region got last month.

Temperatures were also slightly warmer than normal – by 1.2 degrees on average.

Last week’s subfreezing overnight lows were unseasonably chilly, but overall 20 days were warmer than normal. That included a balmy 61-degree high on November 11, which was Seattle’s warmest day last month and was 9 degrees above normal.

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What’s up ahead?

It looks like our weather is returning to normal with rain chances in the forecast on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.

However, Seattle has a lot of catching up to do in December to get to mean rainfall, which is 38.64 inches of rain. So far we’re at 25.94 inches.

RELATED: Western Washington forecast

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