52 Days Without Rain: Seattle Breaks All-Time Dry Streak

SEATTLE, WA - Remember the wettest winter on record? Say hello to the driest summer period on record. On Tuesday, Seattle hit 52 days in a row with no measurable rain*, which is now the longest streak ever recorded.

The National Weather Service has been warning that Seattle might break the dry streak for weeks. But in marking the record on Tuesday, the NWS noted that the water year is 8.56 inches above normal right now thanks to that long, wet winter we experienced. Seattle has had about 28.40 inches so far in 2017, a number we wouldn't usually hit until mid-November.

So will the dry streak continue? The short answer is yes. There won't be any rain through at least this weekend. But a 10-day precipitation forecast from the NWS shows an above-average (60 percent or better) chance for rain sometime next week.

*NWS measures rain at Sea-Tac Airport. It did rain in other places around Puget Sound on July 27, and so the record only holds for area that did not see measurable rain over the last 52 days.

Image via WSDOT