Unusually wet, cold spring may persist in Seattle

For those hoping to break out the shorts any time soon, weather forecasters have some bad news.

A cool trough of low pressure continues to draw storm systems through the region, with rain expected much of this week.

“We’ve been stuck in the same pattern during the last couple weeks,” said Samantha Borth, a meteorologist at the Seattle office of the National Weather Service.

Seattle’s rainfall in May totaled 2.3 inches through Saturday, marking the “fourth wettest first two weeks of May in 78 years,” the weather service tweeted.

While Saturday’s temperature broke 60 degrees, ending a nine-day streak in the 50s, the region remains cool: “We may still trend below normal for at least the early half of the week,” Borth said.

Forecasters expect showers on Monday and Tuesday, with some chance of clearing at times. Then, another storm system is on the radar, likely bringing rain Wednesday and into Thursday.

The first chance of significant clearing will come Friday, Borth said. But she added that the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center is showing below-normal temperatures and above-average rainfall for the next eight to 14 days.