Weather
Seattle's 1st 90-Degree Day Of The Year: WA Heat Forecast
After a pleasant start to the week, Puget Sound is looking at a summer-like run of unseasonable heat. Here's when it arrives.
SEATTLE — Mother's Day is shaping up to be a scorcher in Seattle, with forecasters predicting a surge in temperatures by the weekend — and the heat may linger beyond Sunday.
The National Weather Service expects an upper-level ridge will start building across the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday, bringing temps up into the 70s through Friday and up into at least the 80s by the weekend.
"There is potential for the warmest temperatures of this year thus far to occur this weekend, with the latest [model] percentiles giving a 40 to 50 percent chance of high temperatures in the interior metro areas reaching 90 degrees or more Sunday and Monday," wrote Kayla Mazurkiewicz, a meteorologist at NWS Seattle. "The percentiles are even higher, around 70 to 80 percent for temperatures 90 or above, especially for places in the Southwest Interior."
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The Seattle metro will get close to 90 by Sunday, and afternoon highs get close to at least the 80s virtually across the board.
If that seems unusual for this time of year, it is. According to NWS Seattle, a normal May sees just two days at or above 80 degrees in the Emerald City, with the all-time record of seven set in 1958. Seattle might log three just between Saturday and Monday. Seattle's earliest 90-degree day on record is May 17, which has a fair chance to fall Sunday or Monday.
Find out what's happening in Seattlewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Since it is still early in the forecast period, the weather service will be keeping a close eye on changes in the models in the coming days. Right now, forecasters are urging residents to prepare for at least a moderate heat risk impacting nearly every corner of Puget Sound by late in the weekend.
"This event is still far out, so there is a likely chance some of these details will change as we get closer," Mazurkiewicz said. "Overall, a period of warmer weather is definitely on its way for Western Washington."
The heat wave forecast is in line with earlier climate outlooks that heavily favor hotter, drier weather sticking around clear through the end of the month.
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