Buehner: May weather to bring sunshine, boating season
Apr 29, 2024, 5:55 AM
Washington boaters on Lake Washington (Photo: Jesse Beals, Getty Images)
(Photo: Jesse Beals, Getty Images)
April showers will hang on through the final days of the month before giving way to sunshine on May 1 – May Day.
A cool moist and unsettled air mass associated with lower pressure aloft moving through Washington Monday and Tuesday will produce showers and even the threat of isolated thunderstorms. Highs will struggle to climb into the 50s with lows around 40 degrees across Western Washington.
This cool unsettled air mass will also nudge mountain snow levels down between 2,000 and 3,000 feet through Tuesday. A total range of two to eight inches of snow is possible in the Cascade passes, creating the potential for tricky driving conditions.
More on Washington weather: Southern California has received more rain than Western Washington
By Wednesday, this weather system is forecast to move further inland with higher pressure building onshore resulting in sunshine and warmer temperatures. Highs Wednesday are expected to warm to either side of 60 degrees; close to early May average temperatures.
Another weak weather system moving ashore Thursday will renew a threat of showers before the system moves inland, permitting Friday to see more sunshine. Highs Friday will likely be the warmest day of the week with highs climbing into the 60s.
The Seattle Mariners have a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves Monday through Wednesday. The stadium roof will likely be closed during the first two games with temperatures only in the 50s. Sunshine is expected for the day game on Wednesday.
On Friday, the Seattle Reign takes on San Diego at Lumen Field with dry weather likely during the game.
More from Ted Buehner: Will a ‘Heat Dome’ be part of the upcoming Seattle summer?
Boating season begins
Saturday is the opening of boating season. At this point, it looks like the weather should behave with only a threat of light showers and relatively light winds for all the festivities in the Montlake area.
The threat of showers also is likely to hang on through the rest of the weekend with highs in the lower 60s as another weak Pacific weather system moves inland.
For the rest of the first half of May, the longer range outlook tends to offer cooler and wetter than average conditions for Western Washington. Perhaps those April showers could be considered going into extra innings.
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.
