With a moist airmass in place and weak winds, we will have fog developing in many areas late tonight into early Wednesday, especially west of Puget Sound. Morning temperatures will be in the 40s with highs Wednesday in the upper 40s to lower 50s. Visibilities will be reduced in many areas from the morning fog. The fog and low clouds will have a hard time dissipating during the day, so in the lowlands, we can expect a mainly gray day. In the mountains, and near the coast, we can expect plenty of sunshine.
Thursday will be similar, though we expect a slightly brighter afternoon after morning fog. Even more improvement from morning low clouds and fog will be seen on Friday with a mainly sunny afternoon and highs in the lower 50s. This improvement will be due to increased north and easterly low-level wind flow, helping to keep the lower atmosphere more stirred up and preventing fog formation.
The weekend will be mainly sunny with morning low clouds and fog only in the most fog-prone areas mainly south of Puget Sound. Highs will be around 50 in Seattle both days, so it is an unusual sunny weekend in January and just perfect for the Seahawks game. Winds will be mainly light out of the north, so the weather should have no consequence on the game.
We could get back into a morning fog and low cloud pattern early next week before a return of rain chances around next Wednesday, ending the longest dry stretch since late September into early October.
Long-range forecast models hint at colder weather possibly visiting the Northwest beyond the middle of next week, bringing the prospect of mountain snow back to the region, with possibly lower snow levels at times. However tantalizing this may be for lowland snow lovers, it is still out of the range of normal forecast confidence – so a “chance” that’s just worth watching as we get closer.
© 2022 Cox Media Group
