Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Seattle/Tacoma, WA
Issued by NWS Seattle/Tacoma, WA
627 FXUS66 KSEW 172108 AFDSEW Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Seattle WA 208 PM PDT Mon Aug 17 2026 .SYNOPSIS...Dry and mild weather will persist through midweek. Shower and mountain thunderstorm chances increase heading into Friday and Saturday as the next system moves in. Quiet weather returns for the first half of next week. && .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/...Generally mild/benign weather for western WA through midweek. Currently, we sit under weak/split flow with high pressure to our south and low pressure offshore. The flow pattern remains onshore with temperatures close to average. High pressure remains nearly stationary moving toward midweek with ongoing dry weather across western Washington. 33 && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/...Low pressure starts to shift east and inland Friday and Saturday for a chance of showers and cooler conditions. Most of the shower activity will be over the coast and mountains and there is a slight chance of thunderstorms in the northern Cascades Saturday afternoon. With the trough overhead, Saturday`s highs will be cooler and in the 60s to lower 70s. The trough exits east Saturday night and we`re back to our dry and mild conditions Sunday and Monday with temps very close to our averages. 33 && .AVIATION...VFR this afternoon will prevail across the terminals. Conditions will deteriorate this evening first along the coast and later across interior terminals by the morning as another round of stratus pushes inland. Latest guidance suggests Puget Sound terminals will see MVFR cigs. IFR/LIFR conditions expected for locations along the coast, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Kitsap Peninsula. In addition, reductions in visibility possible with the marine push. NW winds this afternoon will shift SW by Tuesday morning. KSEA...VFR will prevail through the day. Another push of marine stratus is expected to bring MVFR cigs to the terminal after 12z. Clouds expected to lift and scatter in the afternoon after 18z. NW winds this afternoon around 5-7 kt will transition to SW late tonight into Tuesday morning around 3-5 kt. Increasing SW in the afternoon to 6-9 kt. && .MARINE...High pressure will remain over the far offshore waters and slowly build into area waters through the middle of the week, which will maintain northwesterly winds over the coastal waters. A weak system will approach area waters on Tuesday, with little impact to the waters. Northwesterly winds look to increase late tonight into Tuesday over the outermost waters, which may develop steep seas around 6-7 ft with a dominant period of 7 seconds. The threat for steep seas may continue through mid-week. High pressure will weaken late in the week as a frontal system passes over the coastal waters. Weak westerly pushes down the Strait of Juan de Fuca will continue this week. The next round of westerlies that may exceed 21 kt is Friday, with the latest probabilities around 40-60%. 62/29 && .FIRE WEATHER...The weather pattern will remain fairly stagnant over the next few days, with onshore flow promoting healthy relative humidity values. An upper level ridge will build northward towards the Pacific Northwest during the latter half of the week, bringing a mild warming and drying trend to western Washington. The next weather system is favored to cross the region late Friday into the weekend, with potential for thunderstorms to develop over higher terrain leading to elevated fire weather conditions. While precipitation amounts may bring localized wetting rains to the region, any storms that develop will also be capable of generating gusty and erratic outflow winds and abundant lightning. While the exact timing and location of thunderstorms remains uncertain at this time, the threat of overnight thunderstorms remains into the weekend, particularly Friday night into Saturday. 15 && .SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...None. PZ...None. && $$