Seattle weather forecast: Springlike conditions, but not for long

Sunshine and highs around 50 degrees — Tuesday’s weather seemed almost too good to be true, right?

Mother Nature on Tuesday delivered Western Washington a break from the persistent parade of wet and windy weather systems. But springlike conditions will not last long, according to the National Weather Service.

After “a generally dry and quiet day Tuesday,” wet weather will return, said Kayla Mazurkiewicz, a meteorologist with the weather service in Seattle.

Patchy rain will return Wednesday morning before a blanket of clouds covers the Seattle area by the afternoon. Rain will begin as showers along the coast before moving in and wetting pavement in the Puget Sound area by Wednesday evening.

A jet stream of moisture, thanks to an atmospheric river flowing in from California, will deliver wet and windy conditions again later in the week, she said.

Moderate rain is forecast in Western Washington from Wednesday night into Thursday, with heavy rain possible in some spots, the weather service said online.

A couple inches of rainfall, with the highest totals potentially over the Olympic Peninsula, are expected on Thursday, Mazurkiewicz said.

In the Cascades, the atmospheric river will increase the chance of snow, with 2-3 inches expected to fall Wednesday night before transitioning to mild rain on Thursday, according to the weather service.

Another system will move into Western Washington on Friday, bringing more rain, breezy winds and rising rivers across the region.