🎃 It's Friday. Happy Halloween Eve!

🌧️ Today's weather: Chance of light rain, with a high of 52.

⚠️ Situational awareness: Northbound I-5 in Seattle is scheduled to close tonight as crews remove the work zone along the Ship Canal Bridge.

• Northbound lanes from I-90 to Northeast 45th Street will close starting at 11:59pm, reopening at 5pm Monday. Read more.

Today’s newsletter is 1,070 words — a 4-minute read.

The Big Dark was never supposed to be a big deal.

Why it matters: While the term started as weather-office slang for Seattle's gloomy season, it has quickly become part of our Pacific Northwest lexicon.

Driving the news: Daylight saving time ends at 2am Sunday, when clocks fall back an hour, ushering in what many consider the unofficial start of the Big Dark.

• "There's a big difference between sunset near 6 and going to and from work in the dark," Seattle weather blogger Justin Shaw told Axios.

The backstory: The phrase became shorthand for the region's long, gray season thanks in part to a meteorologist, a newspaper story and a series of powerful storms.

• In October 2017, National Weather Service meteorologist Dustin Guy used "the Big Dark" while discussing a series of approaching storms amid the arrival of Seattle's gloomy season.
• The expression appeared in a Seattle Times headline and was soon picked up by other news outlets.
• The Big Dark wasn't new to NWS Seattle, said Logan Johnson, who headed the forecast office at the time. Staff had used it informally for years to describe diminishing daylight.

The plot twist: But with a parade of storms bearing down on the region, the expression got mistaken for an official name for the approaching weather system, Johnson told Axios this week.

• The Weather Service doesn't name individual storms, he said, and the confusion caused some consternation.

What they're saying: Guy never sought credit for popularizing the phrase and isn't particularly happy about its enduring fame.

• "It's something I just can't seem to live down," he told Axios.
• But despite his misgivings about the attention, he still considers the Big Dark an apt description of the season when daylight dwindles and gray skies settle in.

The upside: Shaw says the darkness isn't all bad.

• There are some advantages, he said, including avoiding unwanted conversations at dark bus stops and having a ready excuse to skip yard work and exercise.
• "I've used that to my advantage multiple times in the winter months," he said.

Your turn: How do you survive the Big Dark? Hit reply to share your favorite coping strategies, guilty pleasures or dark joys.

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Local trick-or-treaters will have daylight until nearly 6pm tomorrow — but we'll all be back to pre-5pm sunsets starting Sunday.

Zoom in: The sun in Seattle will set at 5:51pm on Halloween, giving revelers a little more time before night falls.

• The end of daylight saving time early Sunday morning, however, will roll Sunday night's sunset back to 4:51pm.

The big picture: The annual ritual of setting our clocks back an hour, or "falling back," isn't going anywhere for now.

• While Washington's Legislature voted in 2019 to switch to permanent daylight saving time, the state can't make that change without congressional approval.
• The U.S. House recently passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, but the U.S. Senate has yet to take up the measure.

Between the lines: Making that change would push back winter sunrises, raising concerns about the safety of kids heading to school in the dark.

• A new University of Washington study found that permanent daylight saving time could nearly triple the number of days Seattle kids commute to school before sunrise, The Seattle Times reported.
• Researchers warn that more dark commutes could increase the risk of fatal traffic collisions, the newspaper reported.

The bottom line: Go trick-or-treating, then set your clocks back — and prepare to spring them forward again in March.

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👝 A set of Wolverine-style claws attached to brass knuckles was discovered in a passenger's carry-on bag at Sea-Tac, but the traveler faced no penalty after abandoning them at airport security. (KING 5)

🏙️ Nearly half of Seattle businesses surveyed have considered moving jobs out of the city, citing taxes, public safety and rising costs, according to a survey by two business advocacy groups. (KIRO 7)

🚨U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement awarded a new 10-year, $1.5 billion contract to GEO Group, the private prison operator that runs the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. (Seattle Times)

More than $5 million in medical debt could be wiped out for Seattle residents under a budget proposal announced yesterday by City Councilmember Dionne Foster.

Driving the news: Foster wants the city to spend $350,000 to partner with nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, which buys outstanding medical bills at steep discounts and cancels them.

• Residents would qualify if their income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty level or their medical debt exceeds 5% of their income.
• They wouldn't need to apply or pay taxes on the forgiven debt, per the council.

By the numbers: A fifth of Washington respondents had outstanding medical bills, while 35% reported financial hardship from medical expenses, according to a 2025 survey.

What's next: The proposal will be considered during the city's 2027-28 budget deliberations, with a public hearing Nov. 5.

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Mr. Man, who sometimes goes by just Mister, is a long haired tuxedo cat "who thinks he is the boss of the world," owner Morgan W. tells us.

"He enjoys sitting on things he is not supposed to sit on, like clean laundry and work laptops," Morgan writes.

When caught doing this, "he just looks at you, completely unbothered by your annoyance."

But Mr. Man is not always so haughty. He'll meow at the door when his humans leave, and makes a habit out of trying to catch bugs, then gagging on them.

• In short: He's the absolute "cutest cat in the world," Morgan says.

Want to see your pet featured here? Hit reply and send us their name, some cute pics and what they most like and dislike. They might just become our next featured star!

😱 Talk about scary: Clarridge got a $25,000 bill for her rabies shots.

🎃 Melissa is trying to balance her older child's desire for a trick-or-treat marathon with her toddler's limited walking ability.

This newsletter was edited by Geoff Ziezulewicz.