Atmospheric river moves through western WA, but hot weather will return
Aug 15, 2025, 4:01 PM
Shannon Mirich (R) of Des Moines, Washington and friend, Rachel Grice, of Issaquah, Washington walk with their children (in stroller L-R) Emma Grice, two-years-old, and Christian Mirich, three-years-old, along Beach Drive SW in Seattle, Washington. (Photo: Robert Sumner, Getty Images)
(Photo: Robert Sumner, Getty Images)
The Puget Sound region is getting a dose of November weather in August.
“We have a pretty strong and moist frontal system moving through, or you can also call it an atmospheric river,” Meteorologist Logan Howard with the National Weather Service in Seattle said.
The weather system, which Howard said is unusual for this time of year, is bringing plenty of rain with it.
“For the Seattle metro (area), we’re expecting about 3/4 of an inch to 1 1/4 inches of rain,” Howard added.
The Olympic and Cascade mountains could see a couple of inches of rain from the weather system.
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Seattle rain totals behind for the year
The precipitation is needed. Rain totals for the year are still behind what they should be.
At the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where Seattle’s rainfall is monitored, 14 3/4 inches have been recorded — 7 inches below expected levels, according to Howard.
The atmospheric river arrived Thursday night and was forecast to move east of the Cascades by early Saturday. Howard said we haven’t seen the last of the hot summer weather, but we’ll have a few days or partly cloudy skies with daytime temperatures in the 70s first.
“Looking towards the end of next week, it looks like we’ll warm back up closer to normal, right around the 80-degree mark, and we should have much more sunny days,” Howard said.
Read more of Heather Bosch’s stories here.
