July 4 Weather Forecast: Cooling Trend Ahead For Puget Sound

SEATTLE — Friday may have been the nicest day Puget Sound will see for a while, with cooler, cloudier, and wetter conditions poised to move into the area over the long weekend. If the forecast holds, Independence Day could be Seattle's coolest in more than a decade and the first to log measurable rain since 2010.

Fortunately, Saturday looks similar to Friday on the temperature front, with afternoon highs near normal in the low 70s, but the National Weather Service expects clouds will increase throughout the day. While much of the day should be dry, forecasters said there is a chance some isolated thunderstorms could "bubble up" over the Cascades in the late afternoon. According to the Seattle Weather Blog, some thunderstorms could be possible in the lowlands Saturday evening into Sunday morning.

Both Sunday and Monday are forecast to run on the cooler side, and more widespread rain will be in the cards.

"Moist and unstable south to southeast flow aloft will continue, bringing a good chance of showers to all areas," NWS Seattle wrote Friday. "Thunderstorms are possible over the Cascades with a few perhaps drifting into the lowlands east of Puget Sound ... Highs will cool into the 60s."

Western Washington is not alone in facing a potentially stormy holiday weekend, as AccuWeather reports, thanks in part to impacts from the North American monsoon.

Forecasters said July 4 is unlikely to be "a total washout" for Puget Sound, but families headed out to fireworks displays should plan for cooler weather and scattered showers. Things look to warm up a bit starting Tuesday, with highs making it back into the 70s and partly sunny skies returning.

Here is the five-day weather outlook for the Seattle area:

• Saturday: 72°/57° (Mostly cloudy/PM chance of showers)
• Sunday: 65°/56° (Chance of showers - 50%)
• Independence Day: 65°/54° (Showers likely - 60%)
• Tuesday: 72°/55° (Slight chance of showers/partly sunny)
• Wednesday: 74°/57° (Partly sunny)

In the longer term, the Climate Prediction Center's July outlook places Washington as one of the few places in the United States favored likely to see cooler-than-normal temperatures this month, while the vast majority of the country is in for a heat-up. Patch will have more on what to expect next week.