Buehner: Sunshine in Seattle with warmest temperatures since October

Story originally published March 11, 2024

This week’s weather experienced a big turnaround after wet and relatively cool start, finishing with sunshine and likely the warmest temperatures since mid-October.

How warm will it get by the end of the week? Thursday will be mainly in the 50s with plenty of sunshine, hovering around 60 on Friday, and this weekend, well into the 60s. These warmer temperatures will not likely reach record daily highs that are mainly in the lower 70s. With the return of Pacific Daylight Time, there will be evening sunshine to enjoy.

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In addition, have you noticed how high the sun is in the sky lately? The sun angle is now about the same as around the first of October as the calendar approaches the spring equinox on March 19. Yes, the start of astronomical spring is just days away.

The last in a series of Pacific weather systems spread rain inland earlier this week with breezy conditions. The system then swung east of the Cascades Monday night with the rain turning to showers that lingered through Tuesday. High temperatures on both days will range from the mid-40s to around 50 degrees.

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In the mountains, snow levels were around 2,500 feet after an additional one to two feet of new snow landed Tuesday night.

Higher pressure both aloft and at the surface is then forecasted to build over the Pacific Northwest Wednesday through Friday, rapidly bringing an end to the showers earlier this week with clearing skies. The clearing skies will permit overnight low temperatures to dip down into the 30s in most Western Washington locations.

Ted Buehner is the KIRO Newsradio meteorologist. You can read more of Ted’s stories here and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter.