‘It’s only rained once on Aug. 1 since 1985’: Local meteorologist warns Seafair attendees that ‘rare’ rain is inbound
Jul 31, 2026, 11:56 AM
The 2026 Boeing Seafair Air Show begins Friday, lasting through the weekend, over Lake Washington near Genesee Park, with the Blue Angels headlining all three days. But meteorologist Scott Sistek is warning those who will attend the event that rare early August rain could be in play on Saturday.
“I am somebody who’s always like the rain,” Sistek said on “Seattle’s Morning News.” But there’s one weekend a year where it’s like, ‘Can we maybe not have rain?’ It’s this weekend. And another aside to this is, a lot of the wedding venues know this is a good weekend, and so they book this weekend very early for their weddings in case people are like, ‘Oh, we guarantee you it’s not going to rain. There’s like a less than 10% chance it’s going to happen.'”
But periods of rain are expected Saturday morning into midday, with a Puget Sound Convergence Zone expected to keep showers going in Snohomish County into the night. A few lingering showers are additionally possible Sunday morning.
“The weather forecast started changing like a day or two ago, and it does look like it may rain a little bit here on Saturday,” Sistek shared. “There’s a bigger storm that’s going into British Columbia. It’s actually kind of very similar to what happened last Sunday. We’re kind of getting the tail end of it just kind of sweeping through, so it’s not a big storm by any stretch, but it does look like Saturday now has a chance it’s going to be cloudy, and there will definitely be some rain showers around here.”
Sistek expects temperatures to be in the high 60s into the low 70s.
The unfortunate timing of rain this weekend during Seafair is what makes it so unlikely. Historically, it is the driest weekend of the year in Seattle.
“It’s just this weekend that’s the bummer. This is supposed to be the driest weekend of the year in Seattle,” Sistek said. “If you go back in history, it has only rained 10 times since 1894 on Aug. 1, and this may be No. 11. It’s like the second driest day in the Seattle weather books. And if you go back on that specific day, it’s only rained once on Aug. 1 since 1985.
“The odds for rain coming on Saturday were astronomically low,” Sistek added.
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” weekdays from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3.
