Seattle, WA
Seattle weather: Damp and cloudy Christmas for Western Washington
Foggy start to Saturday with afternoon sunshine
By early Saturday morning, the convergence zone is forecast to move northward into Snohomish County. This will increase snow chances along US2 and lowland rain around Everett. It will dissipate by late morning and much of Saturday is largely looking dry and pleasant.
While we’re forecasting beautiful blue skies and sunshine today, the clouds and rain arrive just in time for Christmas.
This morning, many communities woke up to fog – even freezing fog in some cases. Earlier, there was the risk for icy spots on bridges and overpasses. Later this afternoon, glorious sunshine is in store for Western Washington. Don’t let the sunshine fool you though! Highs will be chilly, reaching the mid 40s for most. The weather will be wonderful for folks doing last-minute errands ahead of Christmas. Bundle up and grab the sunglasses!
Christmas Eve will be cloudy with isolated showers. It’ll be breezy tomorrow for the Cascade “gap” communities (e.g. North Bend and Enumclaw). There could be a light snow shower over the Cascades, but accumulations are unlikely.
Another heavier batch of rain arrives late Christmas morning. The wet weather will continue on-and-off throughout the rest of the day. It’ll be gusty, particularly for the typical spots (e.g. the coast and Salish Sea). The Cascade gap communities could be blustery, too. Unless something changes, we’re not expecting winds to be strong enough to warrant any official wind alerts.
At times next week, it’ll be gusty on-and-off for gap towns like North Bend. Stay tuned for more details!
Christmas night, there might be a dangerous mix of freezing rain and snow for the mountain passes, but this forecast is still fluid and has time to change. Stay tuned if you’re planning on driving over the passes on Christmas!
Very light hit-or-miss snow is possible for the higher mountain passes Tuesday through Thursday.
Here’s a look at the ski forecast:
A note: King Tides are expected along the far Washington coast this weekend. Starting Monday and lasting through New Year’s Eve, King Tides are on tap for the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. For learn more about king tides, head here: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/kingtide.html
Normally under quiet and stable weather conditions, King Tides don’t produce flooding. However, if the atmospheric pressure is lower than average and conditions are windy, flooding is a possibility. Right now, there’s a small chance for minor flooding along the Pacific Coast on Christmas and Tuesday and possibly Puget Sound on Wednesday (even as early as Tuesday). If any flooding occurs, it won’t be nearly as bad as what parts of Puget Sound endured last December. The potential for floods is low.
Speaking of flooding, there’s a low risk for minor flooding over the Skokomish River early next week. We don’t anticipate other rivers to flood this week,, but water levels could be rising over the rivers that come out of the Olympics.
Rain returns late Wednesday after a mostly dry day.
Damp weather is possible Thursday and Friday.
Hope you have a wonderful, magical weekend ahead of Christmas! It’s a pleasure forecasting for you.
Take care and happy holidays,
Meteorologist Abby Acone
Follow me on X @abbyacone, Instgram @abbyaconewx, TikTok @abbyaconetv and Facebook (Meteorologist Abby Acone)