Buehner: This week’s weather includes meteor showers, a pink moon, near-70 degree days

The week’s weather ahead offers another dose of April – a mix of sunshine and April showers. Monday is Earth Day and will be bathed in sunshine with warming temperatures as higher pressure builds over Western Washington. Highs on Monday will warm close to average for the third week of April in the mid-50s to lower 60s.

Tuesday will be the warmest day of the week with highs rising into the 60s with some of the usual warmer spots cracking the 70-degree mark. Lows on both Monday and Tuesday will drop into the 40s.

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Lyrid meteor shower

The generally clear skies will permit viewing two events in the night sky. One is the Lyrid meteor shower that peaked over the past weekend but will continue Monday night before fading as April ends. So the best chance to see the Lyrids that average 10 meteors per hour is Monday night.

Unfortunately for those wishing to see this meteoric display in the night sky, a specific full moon — also known as the Pink Moon — will brighten the sky. Based on folklore and nature, the Pink Moon is culturally significant, symbolizing renewal and growth as spring blooms. The full moon will set during the early morning hours, making it much easier to see the Lyrids’ meteor shower during the pre-dawn hours.

And speaking of showers, they are set to return before the end of the week. The high-pressure system offering the sunshine and clear skies early this week is forecast to head inland as a more westerly flow both aloft and near the surface sends a series of weak weather systems onshore with cooler high temperatures and some showers.

The wettest days look to be Thursday and Friday with highs struggling to reach 60 degrees. Rain amounts will tend to be rather light with less than a quarter inch of precipitation in all. Lows will remain in the 40s.

Coincidentally, Friday is also Arbor Day. For those planting trees in honor of Arbor Day, soils should be moist enough to ease the plantings into the ground.

Those new trees also look to have nature’s irrigation heading into the weekend and next week. The latest weather outlook tips the odds toward wetter-than-average conditions along with cooler-than-normal temperatures.

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Western Washington’s rainfall total

The expected rainfall through the end of the month would be welcome given Western Washington is well behind on rainfall so far this month. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) has received only four-tenths of an inch of rain thus far, close to two inches below normal. From the coast to other inland locations, the April rain deficit ranges from one to two inches.

For the year at this point, SEA is over three inches behind average for rainfall. Both Olympia and Forks are between one and two inches below normal. Meanwhile, Bellingham is just over average by close to two-thirds of an inch while Hoquiam is more than one inch above average.

Given the recent state drought declaration last week, any additional rainfall will help.

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.