Seattle approaches record streak of rain-free days
Nov 7, 2019, 7:31 AM
A view of downtown Seattle from the Space Needle. (National Weather Service)
(National Weather Service)
As of Thursday, Seattle will have seen 13 straight days without rain, approaching a record streak for what’s typically a rainy November period.
Frigid weather sees coldest October day for Seattle in years
The last day in rained in the Seattle area was Oct. 25. As we’ve moved into November — the second rainiest month out of the year on average — we haven’t seen a single drop. The average rainfall between Nov. 1 and Nov. 6 is just under 1.20 inches, and 5.67 inches for the whole month.
According to the National Weather Service, it’s been 43 years since there’s been no measurable rainfall in the first week of November in Seattle. In total, there have been just three years where that’s happened: 1976, 1957, and 1952.
Last time there was no measurable rain the 1st week of November in Seattle, 1976. In the 75 years of records at Sea-Tac airport there have only been 3 yrs with a dry 1st week of Nov., 1976, 1957 and 1952. The longest dry streak in Nov. at Sea-Tac, 13 days Nov. 10-22, 2000. #wawx
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 7, 2019
Initial forecasts called for November’s first rain sometime around the weekend, continuing at a near-constant rate for the foreseeable future. That’s since shifted, though, with dry weather potentially extending into next week.
“Our dry spell is not over yet,” said University of Washington climate scientist Cliff Mass.
Mass points out that the most up to date forecasts call for clear skies at least through the morning of Saturday, Nov. 9. That would be 14 straight days without rain, tying the record for most consecutive rain-less days extending into November.
‘Dice may be loaded’ for November snow in Seattle
And that could be just the beginning.
“We have a real chance, but not a certainty, of completely busting the record,” said Mass.
He references a forecasting model predicting no rainfall through Nov. 14. That would put Seattle’s streak at a whopping 20 days, marking the second longest streak in history during Seattle’s rainy season between October and February.
