April 22, 2020

Forecast: April 22nd, 2020

By Calen Randall

Hey Huskies!

Despite the best efforts of last week’s ridge, precipitation has arrived in the Evergreen State to nourish our forests and gardens alike – just in time for the 50th annual Earth Day! In some areas around the Puget Sound, the early morning was accompanied by high clouds and skies free of precipitation, but as you can see from the radar below, that has since changed.

Most of western Washington should expect between a quarter and three-quarters of an inch of precipitation in the coming day. These showers will not be contained to the western side of the state; Huskies at home in eastern Washington should see ample amounts of precipitation too. Most areas east of the Cascades should receive between a tenth and a quarter of an inch of precipitation today with the bulk of the rain occurring in early afternoon.

The contrast between the previous ridge and today’s zonal and onshore flow is striking. Check out the department’s plot of measured solar radiation (amount of sunlight received) at the UW Atmospheric Sciences Building over the past week. Unsurprisingly, yesterday’s sunlight total is meager compared to those cloudless days during our sturdy ridge.

Despite yesterday’s clouded skies, do not expect January-like dark days to return for this last week of April. There will still be sun breaks aplenty amongst the bouts of rain. As an added bonus, the sun doesn’t set until 8:10 P.M. today, over 14 hours after sunrise!

Thanks to the overcast conditions and perpetual precipitation throughout the day, the diurnal cycle of temperatures will be inhibited. Expect the temperature to increase by only five or six degrees to a high in the mid 50s, before sliding back down to a low of around 50. Over the next couple days the high temperatures should surpass 60 degrees. Precipitation should return to western Washington on Thursday and Saturday.

Reach forecaster Calen Randall at theuwdawgcast@uw.edu. Twitter: @Wx19Calen

 

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