Puget Sound Storm Watch

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Puget Sound Storm Watch is a weather blog run by Anthony Croyle in Milton, Washington. Serving the Puget Sound region since February 2013.

9/1/26 - Have you been wondering how Washington state has been doing in the temperature/precipitation departments so far...
09/01/2026

9/1/26 - Have you been wondering how Washington state has been doing in the temperature/precipitation departments so far this year? The Western Regional Climate Center has your answers. Climate averages are calculated based on 30-year cycles. For example, from 2021-2030, our averages are calculated from 1991-2020.

In the temperature department, much of Washington state is running well above average from January 1-August 31. The darkest red colors in graphic 1 are 2.5+ degrees F above the 30-year average. The only area of Washington with below normal year-to-date temperatures is the Salish Sea region. The Port Townsend area is running about 1.5-2 degrees below average.

In the precipitation department, a majority of Washington state is drier than normal. Graphic 2 shows total precipitation anomalies measured in inches from January 1-August 31. Graphic 3 shows the percentage of precipitation YTD compared to normal. Would you be amazed if I said the Makah Reservation is one of the driest spots in Washington so far this year? The immediate Clallam County coast is running 20+ inches below the 1991-2020 climate average!

Want to see cool maps like these? Check out the WRCC site in the comments!

9/1/26 - There may be some bittersweet news for some locations east of the Cascades coming up later this week. The NOAA ...
09/01/2026

9/1/26 - There may be some bittersweet news for some locations east of the Cascades coming up later this week. The NOAA NWS Weather Prediction Center has included chunks of Eastern Washington in marginal (5%) risks for precipitation exceeding flash flood guidance on Thursday and Friday. This would be great news for the fires burning in these areas, but at the same time, no one wants a flash flood. While areas outside of the marginal risk will likely see some degree of rainfall through the weekend, anywhere within 25 miles of the green contours have the highest probability of seeing higher rain totals. It's not much, but it's something to steer us in the right direction going forward.

9/1/26 - Welcome to September! We're starting the day off with some early-season Wind Advisories for Island County, San ...
09/01/2026

9/1/26 - Welcome to September! We're starting the day off with some early-season Wind Advisories for Island County, San Juan County, and the coast of Clallam, Jefferson, and Grays Harbor counties. The advisory for San Juan/Island will be in effect from 2 AM to 8 PM Wednesday. Southeast winds 15-25 MPH with gusts to 40 MPH are expected. For the coast, the advisory will be in effect from 2 AM to 5 PM Wednesday. South winds 10-25 MPH with gusts 35-40+ MPH are expected. Why an advisory for gusts below 45 MPH? Fully-leaved trees that have undergone a lot of stress over the Summer is the rationale. Power outages are not out of the question. There's a chance we could see an expansion of the advisory into Western Whatcom, Western Skagit, and Northeastern Jefferson counties over the next 24 hours.

09/01/2026

8/31/26 - Did you miss the live stream, or don't want to scroll through 2.5 hours of chatting? I've got you covered! Below are four GIF loops showing simulated radar, lightning flash density, max hourly wind gusts, and total precipitation via the Rapid-Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) high-resolution model. Each loop runs from 12 AM Wednesday to 12 AM Friday. This will give you an idea of what to expect with the upcoming system, but it is by no means an exact forecast. As always, this will be another nowcast scenario.

If you'd like to find a frame that fits the time you're looking for, you should be able to pause a GIF and scroll through it manually. Times and dates are shown in the upper-left corner of each animation. Also, I'm not able to add anymore cities or landmarks than what's already shown in the graphics. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. If you'd like to know what each color means, there is a legend at the bottom of each GIF. Units are also included in the upper-left corner.

This will be the final post for August. On to September! Tomorrow marks the beginning of meteorological Autumn, and it will sure start to feel like it as we transition into this next storm system. As it currently stands, the page is at 48,490 followers. Let's shoot for 50K by the end of September!

09/01/2026

Thank you everyone who tuned into tonight's discussion stream! I'm glad to hear more people got notifications.👍🏻

09/01/2026

To close off the final day of August, also known as the final day of meteorological Summer, I felt it would be appropriate to hold a live stream discussion to answer questions from followers/subscribers. I'll go over the setup, what to expect for rain/wind around Washington state, and what is in store for the near-future weather-wise. See you all at 6 PM!

8/31/26 - The Little Giant Fire is now the largest fire in Washington state this year. It has also long since surpassed ...
08/31/2026

8/31/26 - The Little Giant Fire is now the largest fire in Washington state this year. It has also long since surpassed the record for largest wildfire in Chelan County history. As of the most recent Watch Duty update, the LGF is approximately 170,783.7 acres. There is some good news to mention. This wildfire is 49% contained, and some evacuation levels have been downgraded. One example is the level 2 downgrade to a level 1 for Chiwawa Pines to Fish Lake.

8/31/26 - Light offshore winds are allowing for some fire smoke from the Little Giant Fire to mix down into the Skagit R...
08/31/2026

8/31/26 - Light offshore winds are allowing for some fire smoke from the Little Giant Fire to mix down into the Skagit River valley this morning. As a result, air quality sensors in the area are reading unhealthy to hazardous for all groups. A few spots across the interior Puget Sound and Northwest Interior have degraded into the moderate category. This AQI increase will be short-lived as the next system nears.

08/31/2026

8/31/26 - It is the final day of August! Mother nature is practically slamming the door on us by throwing not one, but two weather systems our way. Looks can be deceiving though. We're not getting hit by two systems; however, both areas of low pressure will undergo a merger (basically) on top of us. The main shabang is ejecting out of Alaska as we speak.

Today will end up being another nice day for Western Washington. Fire activity has slowed down east of the Cascades, so it'll be a nice day for them too I guess? Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be a transition day. Expect cloud cover to increase and temperatures to cool. We are still on track to bring a strong cold front into Western Washington late Wednesday morning into the afternoon time. Heavy rain and blustery winds (from the south) will accompany the frontal passage. Behind the front, instability will increase, meaning there will be a chance of isolated t-storms Wednesday night into Thursday.

Wait...there's more! The system hangs around for a while! If it meanders in an ideal spot, it'll brings several rounds of wrap-around moisture into Eastern Washington where they need it the most. This will also keep precipitation chances in the forecast west of the Cascades into the weekend. Want a warm up? Some models hint you may have to wait until well into next week for that to happen. For now, let's take whatever rain we can get.

TL;DR Nice day today. Transition day tomorrow. Cruddy days Wednesday and Thursday. Possibly cruddy Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Dry-out and warm up Monday onward? Windy conditions still expected Wednesday. Thunderstorms possible Thursday west of the Cascades. Typical false Fall.

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