Summer isn’t over yet: Warmer, sunnier weather returns to western WA after soggy weekend

After a soggy fall-like weekend, is summer over? The short answer is no!

Higher pressure aloft is forecast to build over western Washington through the week with clearing skies and warmer, more summer-like temperatures. By mid-week, high temperatures are expected to warm into the 70s. By Friday, some locations inland from the cooler waters of Puget Sound could reach 80 or higher.

At this point, the warmer weather with sunshine is anticipated to extend into the coming weekend.

Weather through the fall equinox

The fall equinox will fall on Sept. 22 at 5:05 p.m. The weather outlook through the equinox offers more summer-like weather with seasonable high temperatures in the upper 60s and 70s.

After that, though, extended weather forecast charts point to a change to cooler, wetter, more fall-like weather.

Wet weather benefits

One good thing about this past weekend’s soggy weather? The rain helped dampen any threat of local western Washington wildfire starts, and the thirsty landscape sure could use it.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) received close to two-thirds of an inch of rain. Other western Washington locations varied from less than a tenth of an inch to just over a half inch of rainfall.

East of the Cascades, beneficial rainfall over the weekend helped with dampening current wildfire activity. Ellensburg received close to two-thirds of an inch of rain, Wenatchee around a half inch, and Spokane just over a tenth of an inch of rainfall. The wildfires in the region are not out, but the cooler, damp weather gives fire crews a good chance to better contain ongoing fires.

The improving weather in eastern Washington this week and into the coming weekend is not likely to enhance fire activity much at all, particularly with longer nights and cooler overnight temperatures.

In western Washington, looking ahead, enjoy the remaining days of summer-like weather that will resume as the week wears on.

Ted Buehner is the KIRO Newsradio meteorologist. Follow him on X and Bluesky. Read more of his stories here.