December 17, 2022

Forecast: December 17th, 2022

Last updated 9:00 AM, Saturday, December 17th, 2022 

By Paige Klobucnik 

Happy Saturday Huskies! Hope everyone is excited for winter break and did good on all your finals! A well-deserved break is here!  

Today in Seattle we are expecting overcast skies with scattered showers throughout the day! Highs in the upper 30s and lows around freezing temperatures last night! This morning we can see some lowland fog and even the opportunity for freezing fog with some of the low temperatures observed overnight and into early morning, so be cautious in your morning activities!  

If you are driving home later this afternoon or tomorrow towards eastern WA on Stevens Pass and/or Snoqualmie Pass, be cautious of some slippery roads due to mixed precipitation, as snow accumulations could add up to around 4 to 12 inches, and ice accumulation can be up to one quarter of an inch. There is a winter weather advisory in effect until 10PM on Sunday. So, drive safely huskies! 

Looking ahead to the first week of winter break, there is a cold frontal system moving southward past British Columbia tonight, bringing with it chances for some wintery precipitation for the lowlands the first half of the week! Maybe some opportunities to make snowmen or snow angels will arise during this time! 

While temperatures have the chance to be down to the 20s Wednesday and Thursday following the cold air from the north pulling down, we will see a warmer pattern develop into the later week and the weekend, bringing temperatures back up to the high 30s and 40s as we will see in the beginning of the week, even chances of being back in the 50s on Saturday! 

Following this, I wanted to mention some climatological patterns that we have seen in December so far and how this compares to averages. So far in December, we have hit a high temperature of 46 degrees, that occurred on the 10th.  

This means, through December, we have only observed temperatures under 50 degrees, but, with this warmer pattern developing into later next week, we have the chance to be up to 50 degrees, this will be interesting to see, especially since normal highs in December for Seattle don’t exceed 50! 

It will be intriguing to see if throughout this next week we go from below normal temperatures mid-week in the 20s (normal Seattle lows in December don’t even go below the high 30s), all the way to above normal temperatures in the 50s by the weekend! Something to look out for! 

Overall, be on the lookout for some interesting weather patterns coming up and have a good winter break Huskies! 

Reach forecaster Paige Klobucnik at theuwdawgcast@uw.edu or on social media at Twitter: @TheUWDawgcast and Instagram: @UWDawgcast