Will this be the wettest February in Seattle weather history?
Feb 20, 2017, 7:46 AM | Updated: Feb 22, 2017, 10:00 am
February 2017 has quickly moved up the charts in terms of rainfall. (AP)
(AP)
Seattle weather has given the region the sixth wettest February on record, as of Monday.
According to UW Climatologist Cliff Mass, Seattle had reached 8.01 inches of rain when he blogged about it on Feb. 18. One day later, the record rose to 8.06 inches. That’s 1.05 inches below the all-time wettest February.
Related: It takes more than rain to cause landslides around Puget Sound
The all time February rain record is 9.11 inches, set in 1961. With rain in the forecast over the coming week, it is possible that the Seattle region could surpass that final 1.05 inches and make it into the no. 1 spot. But the jury is still out on how likely that will happen.
Even before more rain fell on Sunday, Mass predicted the record would “almost certainly” be broken.
“The chances are very good that a new February rainfall record will be set at Seattle-Tacoma Airport and a number of other western WA locations,” Mass wrote in his blog. “All this precipitation has caused our soils to become highly saturated, resulting in mudslides and slope failures, such as the one that closed down I-90 near Issaquah and another that closed I-5 near Woodlawn.”
But Johnny Berg with the National Weather Service wasn’t as ready to make that prediction.
“The forecast can change … it looks like small amounts and showery,” he said. “It seems like it may not be likely — it’s possible. But I wouldn’t put any money on it.”
“The medium range outlook is for below normal temperatures and precipitation – so cooler and drier than normal,” Berg said Friday. “That’s through March 3.”
Seattle weather so far
In the early morning hours of Thursday, Feb. 16, the National Weather Service in Seattle noted that the region had so much rain the prior day, it was the ninth wettest day on record for the month of February. Two hours later, enough rain fell that it became the sixth wettest February on record.
Related: The wettest Seattle neighborhood
With less than nine days left to go, there is some room left to speculate.
February’s heavy rain comes after last fall’s record-breaking rain records. October’s 10.05 inches set an all time record. That was after the weather service noted that the six months prior also set records. And November went down as the second warmest on record.
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