March 16, 2021

Forecast: March 16th, 2021

By Calen Randall

Hey Huskies,

If you are one of the lucky ducks whose finals are finished, congrats! If you are still working on finals and projects, good luck! You are almost done!

While the weather was a little chilly overnight, the atmosphere has summoned a beautiful March sunrise. Check out the Seattle Space Needle’s panocam for 360 views of the illuminated Olympic Mountains and look closely for the tops of Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, and Glacier Peak, peeking over the tops of lows clouds. Some fog is impacting the foothills regions, but clearing is expected by afternoon.

The weather during Spring Break will be a mixed bag. This week’s forecast it a tale of two patterns. Today and Wednesday should be mostly dry, thanks to a ridge of high pressure. However, heading into Thursday our ridge will weaken and shift eastward and a low pressure trough will move into the region bringing a few rainy fronts.

Temperatures should vary depending on the pattern this week. For the first time in a few days, high temperatures in Seattle should surpass 50⁰ with afternoon temperatures in the low-to-mid 50s likely around the Puget Sound. After another clear chilly night in the mid 30’s, tomorrow will be the warmest and clearest day of the week. Temperatures might even hit 60⁰ again! As the pattern shifts to rainier weather, overnight temperatures should stay in the low 40s through the weekend and highs will fluctuate in the low-to-mid 50s depending on how strong the storms are or any potential sun breaks. There is slight potential for thunderstorms on Friday morning, though the chance of strong convective storms is not high.

While our Spring Break weather is not exactly Miami Beach warm, Seattleites and Washingtonians can be thankful to avoid some of the wild weather around the country. The southeastern USA is bearing down in anticipation of potentially strong thunderstorms or a tornado outbreak. Colorado and Wyoming just received a huge snowstorm with some regions getting as much as 40 inches over a couple days of the storm and more snow possible later this week. Think our nights have been cold? Residents of Anchorage, Alaska are still “enjoying” overnight temperatures in the single digits and highs in the low 20s this week. Our 30s and 50s are practically tropical in comparison!

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

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