Most of the smoke from the Bear Gulch fire today has remained aloft over Western Washington, though some air quality concerns still exist closer to the fire, and there is the chance of some very minute ash falling downstream from the fire. Worse air quality exists in Central Washington from the downstream effects of this smoke. For most of us, air quality remains just fine tonight into Thursday.
For this Wednesday evening, there’s a slight chance of rain showers in the central and north Sound this evening with a weak Puget Sound Convergence Zone from Seattle to Everett.
Otherwise, it’ll be a quiet night with morning temperatures in the 50s to low 60s. We’ll have increasing clouds through the day with highs in the 60s coast to low 70s around the Sound.
Rain showers will move onto the coast by late afternoon and move inland by evening. There will be some rain continuing most of the night Thursday into Friday morning, with some breaks here and there.
This will be the leading edge of an unusual “atmospheric river” bringing a stream of rich moisture across the Pacific right into Western Washington. This is a fairly common feature in our fall weather but happens this time of year perhaps one in a decade. The last time we had an inch or more in the first part of August in Seattle (through Aug. 16) was indeed ten years ago — in 2005.
Rain will fall from Thursday night through Friday night across the area. While the rainfall totals will be impressive — one half to more than one inch across the lowlands — it should be spread out enough to prevent any urban flooding. This is especially true since soil is dry and ready to soak up rainfall.
In the mountains, one to three inches of rain will fall which is excellent news to help extinguish our local fires. There’s a slight potential for rainfall to cause flooding near burn scars, but most areas will just get benefit from this. Rivers will be on the rise, but no flooding is expected.
It will also be blustery on Friday with this weather system but no significant wind is expected. Highs will be only in the 60s Friday.
Rain will end and taper to spotty showers Saturday morning, with rain chances tapering Saturday evening. We’ll be dry and mild from Sunday through early next week.
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