Where’s Fall? Warm, Dry Weather Lingers In Puget Sound

SEATTLE — It may be October, but it’s sure starting to feel like an endless summer around Puget Sound.

Seattle logged its hottest start to October in nearly three decades over the weekend, and the latest forecasts show unseasonably warm temperatures sticking around for at least another week, with no signs of precipitation on the horizon.

Adding to the unusual seasonal gumbo is a stubborn round of wildfire smoke, which will continue to bring hazy skies and impact air quality this week. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said air quality would range from “moderate” to “unhealthy for sensitive groups” for most areas, and worse for those closer to the Bolt Creek Fire, with limited improvement over the next few days due to calmer onshore winds.

As far as temperatures are concerned, afternoon highs should have hit their peak Monday, but plenty of sunshine is in the forecast through next weekend.

"There’s no [precipitation] in sight, and we`ll see more of the same - dry weather with above normal temps,” NWS Seattle wrote Monday. “Expect highs in the 70s each day across much of the interior with 60s along the immediate coast and strait. Lows will be in the upper 40s to mid 50s.”

Tuesday and Wednesday look to run the mildest in the stretch, keeping to the low 70s around Seattle, before ticking back up toward the high-70s Saturday. The Climate Prediction Center’s latest outlooks show the odds tilted strongly in favor of hotter, drier weather winning out through about mid-month.

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

• Tuesday: 73°/53° (Partly sunny)
• Wednesday: 72°/53° (Mostly sunny)
• Thursday: 74°/55° (Partly sunny)
• Friday: 75°/54° (Mostly sunny)
• Saturday: 77°/54° (Mostly sunny)