April 22, 2022

Forecast: April 22nd, 2022

Last updated 3:16 p.m. Friday, April 22nd, 2022

By Preston Donion

Happy Friday and Happy Earth Day!

We are lucky to live on such a special planet, and today is looking like a perfect day to celebrate it! Temperatures will climb into the upper 50s in most locations, and spots in the South Sound may even flirt with 60° as we reach the late afternoon. Skies should remain mostly sunny across Western Washington, but there will be a spattering of puffy cumulus clouds to add a little charm to the blue. Those clouds could contribute to a decent sunset this evening, according to SunsetWx:

Even if we don’t send off Earth Day on a high note, we can take some comfort in knowing that a much-needed warm weekend lies just ahead, with widespread 60s expected on Saturday and even more so on Sunday. We can expect dry conditions into Sunday afternoon, and mostly sunny skies to boot! After that, we get back to our chilly and wet April, but it does help a bit that the short spell of nice weather coincides with the weekend!

As we reach Week 5 of the quarter, the companion that’s been with us to nearly every class this spring, the rain, will continue to tag along. We should see showers all week long, with the most rain falling on Monday and the most excitement coming on Tuesday, with a mix of showers, sunbreaks and even some gusty winds expected. At the moment, it doesn’t look like we have a real shot at thunderstorms ahead, but that could certainly change. We will keep you updated right here and on all of our social media accounts!

With the return of the rain comes a crash back to our cooler temperatures, with highs topping out in the low 50s again by midweek. That puts us a solid 9° below the average high for the end of April, which is impressive to say the least. These dramatically chilly temperatures will contribute to our podium push for the coldest April on record at Sea-Tac. We currently sit in 4th place (or 74th warmest if you’d rather look at it that way!), but this warm weekend should help push us down to about 10th place (68th warmest) when it’s all said and done. No matter how much we slip in the last eight days, we are certainly enjoying an anomalous April compared to recent years. Nobody can say 2022 hasn’t been interesting!

It’s unlikely we’ll completely turn the page in the weather department with the arrival of the new month next weekend, but optimism never hurts if you’re growing tired of the “cozy” weather! We will keep you posted on whatever May brings, so stay tuned, and in the meantime enjoy the gorgeous weekend!

Reach forecaster Preston Donion at theuwdawgcast@uw.edu or on Twitter @PrestonDonion