First fall weather system moves into Western WA

A fall weather system is moving our way, and it’s going to bring a pretty big change to the weather over the next 24 hours. We’re starting cloudy and dry this morning, but rain will begin increasing later this afternoon and especially this evening. It will spread inland tonight, setting us up for a wet Friday.

Most of today will actually stay dry, but it will be cool with highs only in the low-60s. Then the rain really moves in tonight and continues through Friday.

Friday will be a wet and unsettled day. The steady rain will gradually turn to showers, and as the atmosphere becomes more unstable, there could be a few isolated thunderstorms. It will also be gusty for most of the area, with the strongest winds possible along the Coast. Highs will only reach the upper-50s and lower-60s, with roughly a half inch to an inch of rain expected.

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The good news is that the system moves out pretty quickly. By Friday evening, we’ll be trending much drier, although some lingering showers could develop in a Convergence Zone. We should dry out substantially overnight.

That sets us up for a much quieter weekend. Saturday may start with some low clouds and a few leftover showers, but we’ll see increasing sunshine during the afternoon. Sunday looks similar, with clouds early followed by afternoon sun.

It will still feel cool this weekend, with highs mainly in the lower to mid-60s. The average high right now is 69 degrees, so we’ll be running several degrees below normal. Not a major cold snap — just a pretty good reminder that fall has arrived.

And we’re not done with the wet weather yet. Another system could bring more showers Monday into Tuesday.

So, the message for the next few days is pretty simple: rain is moving in, Friday gets pretty wet and windy, and then we get a break for the weekend.

Welcome to fall.