Sad spring: Seattle's season of disappointment
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Look, we all know spring is a mixed bag in Seattle — it wasn't dubbed the season of disappointment by one local meteorologist for nothing. But doesn't it seem colder and crappier than usual?
Why it matters: Significantly colder than normal temperatures this month and more cloud cover than usual are taking a toll on a city that depends on sunshine to get past the winter blues.
What they're saying: "The troops are getting crabby," National Weather Service Seattle meteorologist Dana Felton told Axios.
Driving the news: The city has never gotten through April without hitting a high temperature of 60 at least once, according to Felton, but that hasn't happened so far this year. And, he said, it's not likely to happen this week.
- Though longer-range forecasts are less reliable, several weather models are showing that another cold weather trough could be on tap for the following week as well.
By the numbers: Right now the month is running about four degrees cooler than the usual 59 to 60, Felton said.
- Normal overnight lows are usually between 43 and 45 degrees this time of year, said National Weather Service Seattle meteorologist Kayla Mazurkiewicz, but they've been running between 35 and 38 degrees and even dipped into the low 30s last week.
- Our warmest day this month was on April 4 when we hit 57 degrees, said Felton, but we also had 60% cloud cover that day.
The intrigue: Felton said people may also be feeling a little off because Puget Sound this year has seen alternating stretches of colder than usual weather with warmer than usual temperatures and very little of what they think of as normal.
- "It's that fake spring sadness," said Mazurkiewicz. "We'll get a glimpse of sunshine and it will almost feel like a nice day. And then suddenly it's not and we have to wait a little longer."