Warm, sunny weather is on its way to Seattle area; here’s a cheerful forecast

Weather people hesitate to use the words “nice” and “beautiful” when describing sunny, dry days with blue skies and slightly cooling breezes in the Pacific Northwest because, of course, those are subjective words.

And around here, there are always the curmudgeonly who will point out that they prefer rain and also that warm days now are a sign of impending doom.

Granted, sunshine and dry weather don’t automatically mean picnics and bathing suits. On Sunday, we set a record for the lowest morning temperatures in three decades with 34 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and 27 degrees in Olympia, according to Samantha Borth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

And Sunday reached a high of 54 degrees but remained breezy, with gusts of up to 24 mph in the Seattle area. Not really cold, but chilly, right?

But starting this week, it’s going to warm up as the winds shift gradually from the cooler onshore flow we get from the Pacific Ocean to the warmer easterly, interior winds, Borth said.

By Thursday and Friday, Seattle could see high temperatures in the low 70s.

After a cool beginning to April, this will be a significant weather change that looks likely to persist through the weekend, Borth said.

“Everybody’s opinion of what is nice is different,” Borth said, “but I would say it’s going to be pretty nice out.”