Seattle is savoring a sunny start to fall this week, but the countdown to "The Big Dark" has begun.

Why it matters: No major U.S. city loses daylight faster than Seattle — and the darkness can leave residents grappling with seasonal depression and scrambling for happy lamps and extra coffee.

By the numbers: The Emerald City's last 7pm sunset until spring arrives this week, and by Nov. 2 — when clocks roll back one hour — we will have lost more than two hours of daylight since fall began yesterday.

• By the winter solstice on Dec. 21, we'll be down to eight hours of light a day, nearly 3 hours and 40 minutes less than we have now, per Time and Date.

Driving the news: ​​The Big Dark means wet weather, too — though a ridge of high pressure will keep highs in the low to mid-70s through midweek, according to NWS Seattle meteorologist Reid Wolcott.

• Conditions cool into the upper 60s by late week, with showers possible over the weekend.

The big picture: This year's extended outlook tilts toward above-normal precipitation and above-normal temperatures as fall settles in, per Wolcott.

• Normal rainfall jumps from 1.61 inches in September to nearly 4 inches in October and 6.31 inches in November, the city's wettest month, Wolcott told Axios.

What they're saying: "It's weather whiplash," Justin Shaw of the Seattle Weather Blog told Axios. "You go from sunny days and lawn furniture to coats and dark commutes in what feels like a week."

• "Now's the time to think about how you'll prepare your home and yard for winter," said Wolcott.

Yes, but: For rain lovers and storm chasers, fall can be the best season of the year, said Shaw.

• "It's the most exciting time around here," he said. "Dynamic windstorms, power outages and school cancellations. It feels like anything is possible."

Are you looking forward to the rainy season? Tell us what you like about it — and how you cope with the months of rain and early darkness.

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On this day in 1909, Seattle opened what were believed then to be "the world's most luxurious underground toilets" in Pioneer Square, according to HistoryLink.

State of play: The public facilities, with marble stalls, brass fixtures, oak chairs, white-tiled walls, and terrazzo floors, were flushed between 5,000 and 8,000 times a day.

• The ornate pergola above their original location at First Avenue and Yesler Way remains a historic landmark — although the toilets were closed and capped sometime after World War II.

The University of Washington has climbed four spots in U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings, which were released today.

Zoom in: Among more than 400 national universities evaluated, the UW tied for 42nd place this year.

• Last year, the Seattle institution ranked 46th.

Zoom out: Washington State University tied for 192nd this year, while Gonzaga University in Spokane tied for 102nd.

Yes, but: While college rankings wield enormous influence, "they often rest on shaky measurement foundations," writes Soubhik Barari, a research group methodologist with NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research group.

• A September 2024 NORC report that examined five prominent college rating systems — including the one published by U.S. News — flagged issues such as data quality problems and subjective weighting, among other flaws.

The bottom line: While the UW in particular is still highly regarded — especially among public universities — these rankings should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.

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🗞️ Seattle-based Cascade PBS will no longer produce long-form written journalism. The nonprofit is cutting 17 jobs in its newsroom — formerly known as Crosscut — with leaders citing federal funding cuts to public media as the cause. (KUOW)

📺 Sinclair Broadcast Group says it will not air "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on its ABC-affiliate stations — including Seattle's KOMO — even after the show was reinstated. The local station will run news programming instead. (Seattle Times)

🦐 A Seattle company has expanded its recall of potentially radioactive shrimp to include 85,000 bags of raw, cooked and skewered shrimp sold at Fred Meyer and QFC in several states, including Washington. (OregonLive)

✈️ Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will offer new nonstop flights to Hong Kong beginning in March. (Seattle Times)

The military has identified the four servicemembers who died in a helicopter crash last week near Olympia as Andrew Cully, 35, from Sparta, Missouri; Andrew Kraus, 39, from Sanibel, Florida; Donavon Scott, 25, from Tacoma and Jadalyn Good, 23, from Mount Vernon. (KING 5)

⛹🏻‍♀️ Noelle Quinn is out as head coach of the Seattle Storm after the team's first-round playoff loss to the Las Vegas Aces. (ESPN)

👋 Melissa here. I had a chance last week to check out Café Calaveras' new brick and mortar location across from Yesler Terrace Park — and it may have just changed my mind about matcha.

Catch up quick: The former pop-up had its soft launch late last month in Tougo Coffee's old space, serving creative twists on your favorite drinks.

Dig in: I tried the Matcha con Amore, an iced matcha latte topped with strawberry cold foam and candied strawberries.

• The slightly tart dried berry helped balance the overall sweetness — an addictive combination.
• I paired it with a coffee-flavored concha and soaked up the vibes of the colorful cafe, which has quickly become a cool community gathering place.

Other innovative drinks on the menu include the Café de olla, a spiced coffee with cinnamon and brown sugar, and La chingona, a cold brew topped with salty caramel foam, Seattle Magazine reports.

What to expect: The name references the brightly colored sugar skulls (calaveras) of Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead.

• Founder Clarissa Griego told Seattle Magazine that, like the holiday itself, her shop is "a celebration of our roots and our ancestors and where we come from."

If you go: Hours are 7am-2pm daily. Griego said the shop will extend its hours soon.

Tell a coffee lover