WeatherWatcher: Stormy season arrives, last week's highlights

 

Fall colors over Shoreline Park October 15, 2025
Photo by Carl Dinse

Fall colors are near their peak in Shoreline, so I hope you had a chance to enjoy them during what was likely the end of our sunny fall days. The weather pattern has already transitioned to a more typical fall pattern for our region. Our below average rainfall is about to catch up. As of this writing we have already recorded 0.20 inches of rain Saturday.

Forecast: The jet stream is pointing the storm train directly at the Pacific Northwest now. A series of atmospheric rivers will be impacting the region throughout the next seven days. Rounds of rain with showers in between are forecasted Saturday night, Sunday, a break with partly sunny skies and a chance of showers for Monday-Tuesday, then the rains return Wednesday afternoon through the end of next weekend.

Winds are expected as well, with a breezy or windy day on tap for Sunday starting at around 3am. Wind gusts could reach around 25mph, with some models suggesting up to 30-40mph gusts. There seems to be uncertainty with the range of wind gusts but the model I trust most is also the model that is forecasting up to 40mph gusts. We could see some scattered power outages throughout the area early Sunday morning through Sunday afternoon.

Next weekend a potent storm looms somewhere along the Pacific Northwest coast. There is a lot of uncertainty currently with the exact track of this storm, but models are consistent with how powerful it is expected to become. Depending on the track it could become a major windstorm for the area. This is something I am watching closely, and I plan to do a mid-week update on that forecast. Timing of this significant storm is sometime next Saturday or Sunday.

Last week's highlights:

• High temperature: 57.7°F (Friday)
• Low temperature: 38.3°F (Wednesday morning)
• Rainiest day: 0.66 inches (Saturday)
• Average temperature: 49.2°F (2.2°F below normal)

Daily high and low temperatures compared to normal at the North Ridge (Echo Lake) weather station.

We had some continental air move into the region early last week that brought us colder than normal overnight temperatures, with frost in some exposed areas. Temperatures moderated as the jet stream started pointing storms at us at the end of the week.

Rainfall accumulation compared to normal for October at the North Ridge (Echo Lake) weather station.

Daily rainfall totals for October.

We are still far below the average for rainfall in October giving us a relatively dry start to the Fall season. Rainfall over the next week now that the storm track is pointed at us should help get us closer to normal for the month. Rainfall total so far for the month is 1.07 inches, running at about 1.5 inches below normal.

For current weather conditions please visit www.shorelineweather.com