Seattle area gets first ‘clear’ day since late November

You may not need your raincoat this week, but you’ll definitely want a sweater, at least in the mornings.

The Seattle area is predicted to get, at long last, a reprieve from the rainfall that’s been soaking us nearly nonstop this winter.

Tuesday marked the first clear day — meaning cloud cover between 0% and 30% from sunrise to sunset — since Nov. 30, confirmed Johnny Burg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle. Temperatures warmed to the upper 40s and low 50s in some parts of the region, he said.

Overnight temperatures are expected to hang around 25 to 30 degrees, so “it will be frosty in the morning and pleasant in the afternoon” on Wednesday, said meteorologist Mike McFarland.

Wednesday and Thursday are also expected to be sunny and clear with light winds, but rain and clouds will most likely return Friday evening and continue through Sunday.

In historical terms, this week’s forecast is not unusual for this part of February, when temperatures normally average about 50 degrees, McFarland said. The record high for Feb. 18 was 63 degrees, set in 2016.

Despite the dry days ahead, February overall is expected to end up slightly wetter than usual, thanks to the deluges of the past few weeks. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has already recorded 3.54 inches of rainfall this month, while the average is about 3.5 inches.

 Staff reporter Elise Takahama contributed to this report.

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