Ideal forecast for Seahawks playoff game Saturday

The Seattle Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC Divisional playoff game Saturday. Kickoff is shortly after 5 p.m. at Lumen Field in Seattle.

The weather for the game could not be much more ideal for a mid-January playoff game in Seattle. Skies will generally be clear throughout the game. Temperatures at kickoff are expected to be close to 50 degrees, cooling to the mid-40s by the final whistle. Light north winds are anticipated.

The weekend and beyond

Strong high pressure aloft is expected to reside over the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest through the weekend and into at least early next week. At the surface, higher pressure in the interior of western Canada and east of the Cascades will promote low-level offshore winds, limiting any fog or low clouds in western Washington. The net result is abundant sunshine for this time of year.

If longer-range forecast guidance is on track, the next threat of rain is expected to unfold during the latter part of next week.

In the meantime, skies are forecast to remain primarily clear through at least Wednesday of next week with western Washington temperatures hovering on either side of 50 degrees. Low temperatures, though, should become rather cool, dipping down into the 30s, with some outlying areas likely to have freezing temperatures. Morning freezing fog and icy spots on roadways are quite possible.

Prior dry January periods

This period of dry weather in January does occur from time to time, as the Northern Hemisphere upper flow pattern has more amplitude. An analogy would be a rollercoaster. A children’s rollercoaster has more subtle rises and falls. The more extreme rollercoasters have much larger humps and dips. That pattern is where the upper-level air flow pattern across the North Pacific and much of North America is at this point.

There have been several extended dry periods in the month of January thus far this century. The previous one was just last year, with no measurable precipitation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) for 13 days. Last January finished with nearly 4 inches of rain below average, kicking off what turned out to be a dry 2025. SEA finished the year just over 6 inches below average despite the wet month of December.

Back in 2013, SEA had a streak of 12 dry days in January, while 2009 had 11 days of dry weather. Both 2014 and 2022 had nine-day runs of dry conditions. This current January dry stretch is likely to be nine days and can perhaps add another day or two if these high-amplitude weather patterns hold.

In contrast, January can also be quite wet. This month in 2006 had a whopping 11.65 inches of rain at SEA, nearly 6 inches above average.

This January 2026 period of dry weather, though, is quite likely to join the group of seemingly unusual dry periods during what is often considered a wet month.

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