The cold and rain are here for a while longer in Thurston County, experts say
With just half of the month of May in the books, meteorologists are already expecting the month to go down in history as one of the coldest and wettest.
Samantha Borth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle, said Olympia is already trending above average in rainfall totals in May. The monthly norm is 2.26 inches at this point, and so far the area has received 2.7 inches.
“Generally we’re trending above normal, which is kind of unusual in this timeframe because we’re usually starting to dry out more for spring and summer,” Borth said.
Borth said the region has been stuck in a persistent weather pattern for weeks, and it’s expected to stick around at least through May. She described it as an upper-level trough of low pressure that keeps the area wetter than average.
The rain is set to pick back up, with Wednesday having a 100% chance of rain. Borth said the Climate Prediction Center can forecast months out, and it looks like the cold and rain will be here for the next two to four weeks.
The region will see slight reprieves. On Friday, for example, the high is predicted to be 66 degrees with partly sunny skies.
Olympia is currently on track for the ninth coldest May on record. Borth said that could change before the end of the month, but it’s not looking like that will happen.
The coldest May on record was in 1964, when temperatures sometimes dipped below freezing at night. The same happened for several days in May 2002, Borth said.
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