Scott Sistek 
Foggy end to 2025 in Seattle as Mt. Rainier and the Seattle skyline peek above the cloud layer on Dec. 31, 2025. (Photo: Space Needle Web Camera)
It may be tough to believe when just about every third word in a forecast lately was “atmospheric river” (OK that’s two words) but 2025 is going to go down as a relatively dry year in Seattle… again!
Rainfall at Sea-Tac Airport, baring some last minute freak weather event or a wayward hose while watering the runway lawns, is going to finish up the year at 33.05 inches — the third consecutive year Seattle will end up well below average for annual rainfall. We expect about 39.34 inches per year.
It was more than last year’s 32.18 inches, but slightly less than 2023’s tally.
While that annual total still isn’t close to the top 10 driest (it’s ranked 17th), what has been notable has been the relative lack of rainy days to get there. Seattle will finish with just 132 days with measurable rain — the 6th fewest on record. We average about 157 days with rain so that’s almost a month of missing rainy days! You’re welcome, dog walkers!
(I don’t think my sister will agree with that statistic…)
January got us off on the wrong foot, finishing over 3.5 inches below average. While December tried to make up some of the tally, several other months also came in a bit below average. But so far October through December has been about an inch above average.
SNOWFALL
Not a lot to write home about here. Seattle officially has 2.3 inches of snow this calendar year, all from February and all accumulated over 10 days of minor snows around the region. (Many other regions got more snow than that; Sea-Tac didn’t exactly win the snow lottery)
And of course, no snow has fallen here on the back half of the year. Lame…. It’s so far the third consecutive winter below average for annual snowfall of 11 inches (don’t laugh!) but we’ve still got January and February to go. Cross fingers!
TEMPERATURE
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The year will end up warmer than average.
Specifically, Seattle’s average high temperature this year will finish at 61.5 degrees baring some last minute airport worker hair drying their hair next to the runway thermometer. (No, that doesn’t really happen. Though I’ve noticed Sea-Tac’s airport staff does usually have great hair….)
61.5 ties 2023 as the 10th warmest on record at Sea-Tac out of 80 years of data.
It was another warm summer with 34 days at 80 or hotter and 8 days at 90 or hotter — both well above average. However, the hottest day of the year was 94 degrees, and that is the lowest annual peak temperature since 2018.
On the flip side, there were 30 days when Seattle’s temperature dropped to or below freezing— right about the median number of days for a year.
Seattle did not dip into the teens this year; the lowest temperature was 20 degrees on Feb. 12.
HOW WILL 2026 START?
We’ll see some light rain at times to kick off the first few days of 2026, but so far there doesn’t seem to be any extreme weather worries for the first few weeks. La Niña is still lurking out there so you’d think we’re due for some cooler than average temperatures at some point. Perhaps we’ll have to wait until February like we did in 2025.
Have a happy new year!