Tonight: Rain likely after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. North northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Tuesday: Showers. High near 57. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Tuesday Night: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 46. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Wednesday: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 58. Southwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Wednesday Night: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 46. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Thursday: Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 59. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Thursday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47.

Friday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63.

Friday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48.

Saturday: A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 64.

Saturday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 50.

Sunday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65.

Puget Sound and Hood Canal- 900 AM PDT Monday may 20 2013

Today: Light wind, becoming southwest 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 1 ft or less.

Tonight: Northwest wind 10 to 20 kt, becoming southwest after midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. Rain likely after midnight.

Tuesday: Southwest wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. Rain likely in the morning, then showers likely in the afternoon.

Tuesday night: Northwest wind 5 to 15 kt, becoming southwest after midnight. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

Wednesday: Southwest wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

Wednesday night: S wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

Thursday: S wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

Friday: Northwest wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less.

Admiralty Inlet- 900 AM PDT Monday may 20 2013

Today: S wind to 10 kt, becoming northwest 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

Tonight: Northwest wind 10 to 20 kt. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. Rain likely after midnight.

Tuesday: Northwest wind to 10 kt, becoming southeast 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 1 ft or less. Rain likely in the morning, then showers likely in the afternoon.

Tuesday night: Light wind, becoming northwest 5 to 15 kt after midnight. Wind waves 2 ft or less after midnight.

Wednesday: Southeast wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

Wednesday night: S wind 10 kt, becoming north. Wind waves 1 ft.

Thursday: S wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

Friday: Northwest wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less.

900 AM PDT Monday may 20 2013

Synopsis: An upper level ridge will move across the area today giving a dry and warm day to the interior. Conditions on the coast will be cooler with clouds and onshore flow. Big changes will begin late tonight and persist into next weekend as an upper level low moves southeast from the gulf of alaska then spins around over the pacific northwest. Conditions will be moist and cooler than normal.

Short Term: There is a fair amount of stratus over the area this morning, with low ceilings covering the coast and south. Above the stratus there is just patchy cirrus. Clouds will not increase from the approaching upper level low until tonight. So most stratus should evaporate under the may Sunday. Heights around 570 dm imply high temperatures in the 60s except on the coast where onshore surface flow will keep skies mostly cloudy and highs in the 50s.

The much anticipated upper level low is forecast to move onto the coast Tuesday afternoon and spin around over the pacific northwest through at least Thursday. Heights get amazingly low, the NAM forcast has a 540 dm low centered just off the coast Wednesday afternoon, and there is plenty of moisture. A high possibility of precipitation and unseasonably cool period is coming up. High temperatures will flirt with low max records but probably not set new records. Low maxes for may 21-23 are 52, 54, and 49. With cold air aloft and late spring solar heating it does not seem like convection will be completely out of the picture either. burke

Long Term: Previous discussion, temperatures are likely to slowly moderate late in the week through next weekend as the upper low spins around the area. Showers may decrease somewhat toward the end of the week as well. Forecasting the details will be quite difficult as small changes in the position and strength of the upper low can result in big sensible weather changes. Nonetheless it appears that temperatures will remain at least 5 deg below normal through next weekend and there will be quite a few showers around the area, especially over the mountains. albrecht

Aviation: Southwest flow aloft over Western Washington this morning will strengthen and back toward southerly today and tonight, as a deep upper low moves into the outer Washington offshore waters late tonight. Low level flow will turn increasingly onshore during the period. Patchy low level moisture over Western Washington this morning will dissipate midday, then the air mass will become moist all levels and weakly unstable tonight.

Vfr conditions prevail over the north part of the forecast area with ceilings mainly above 120. Areas of low stratus are giving ifr to mvfr ceilings this morning from the Seattle area southward with cloud cover roughly sct-bkn009 bkn-ovc018 and tops around 022. The low cloud cover should dissipate midday. Rain will reach the coast this evening and spread inland tonight with conditions deteriorating across the forecast area to mvfr and ifr. Ksea, southwest wind 3-8 kt becoming northwest 6-10 kt late afternoon, then backing to southwest again around midnight. Stratus this morning should dissipate midday. Rain will likely begin at ksea around 4 AM Tuesday, and conditions will likely deteriorate to mvfr occasionally ifr. mcdonnal

Marine: Onshore flow will develop across Western Washington and its coastal waters today and increase tonight. Small Craft Advisory Westerlies are likely in the central Strait of Juan de Fuca and east entrance strait tonight.

Northwest flow over the coastal waters will increase tonight and Tuesday as a weak surface low of around 1013 mb tracks east-southeast across the Oregon offshore waters and into southwest oregon. Small Craft Advisory Northwest winds are likely over the coastal waters Tuesday.

A 1005 mb low will move southeast across the Washington offshore waters Wednesday, becoming nearly stationary over the coastal waters west of astoria Wednesday night and Thursday. The exact timing and tracking of this feature is still unclear. Model output is rather swirly with the winds. For now will stick with the predominant west to northwest flow across the region. mcdonnal

Watches/Warnings/Advisories: Wa, none. Pz, none.