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Temperatures in the low 70s, upper 60s all week
Isolated showers will be in the forecast for the next couple of days - but will increase by the end of the work week and into the weekend!
Hope you're thoroughly enjoying our refreshingly cool marine layer this morning! In general, you can expect cooler, milder weather ahead of us with times of clouds and sun.
Highs today will be slightly cooler than yesterday: temperatures will only climb to the mid 60s to the low 70s. Any clouds will clear for afternoon sunshine for most backyards.
There's a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms today over the Cascades - particularly later this afternoon and tonight. Even though these storms won't be severe, lightning could start new fires.
Check out the map below - it shows the areas with the best chance for thunderstorms. While we can't rule out a storm from rolling off the mountains and into the lower elevations, thunder along the I-5 corridor is extremely unlikely.
Tomorrow, the lightning risk moves into the northeastern corner of the state - shown in green in the map below.
There are still several fires burning over the Cascades and out into Eastern Washington. Even though there's more moisture in the air than over the weekend, no significant relief is on the way for firefighters. Here in Western Washington, our westerly flow will keep much of the smoke out of the Puget Sound lowlands this week. Air quality is improving around the region: this morning, air quality levels ranged between "good" to "moderate." Along and east of the Cascades, air quality is worse.
Here's a check of air quality from earlier this morning:
Looking ahead to the rest of this week, the weather will be remarkably quiet. Thursday and Friday will trend cloudier vs sunnier - though a few afternoon sunbreaks are possible. Temperatures drop to the 60s beginning Friday, lasting through the weekend. No real rain is on the horizon the next seven days; however, the forecast models are hinting at a few changes next week.
For some context, our average first soaking rain of the season at Sea-Tac Airport is September 18.
Will the drenching rains arrive on time? According to the Climate Prediction Center, our state could have slightly wetter-than-normal weather between September 18 and September 22. Time will tell if that comes to fruition!
Take good care,
Meteorologist Abby Acone
Follow me on Twitter @abbyacone, Instagram @abbyaconewx, TikTok @abbyaconetv and Facebook (Meteorologist Abby Acone)