Seattle Rain Statistics - Will it Rain?

Anybody that knows anything about Seattle rain statistics knows that it doesn't rain in Seattle as much as some people would like you to believe.

Yes, it's true that skies are often grey and overcast, but Seattle actually has less rain than a lot of other major US cities, such as New York, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia.... Just to name a few.

So why all the fuss about Seattle rain statistics and all the rain that falls in Seattle? Well, some people say that the myth of continuous rainfall in Seattle was actually invented by the locals in the early 1960s to try and keep people from moving into the state.

Well, supposedly the plan backfired and scores of people moved in anyway. But what makes the myth continue? For one thing, the overcast skies make it seem like it's going to rain at anytime. Also, even though the amount of rainfall is less than other cities, there seems to be a pretty steady drizzle of rain between September and May. While other cities, especially those on the East Coast of the US, get hard rains, Seattle's rain is more of a light drizzle that comes and goes. That's probably a big reason why so many locals don't even bother to use an umbrella. The amount of rain falling at any one time isn't particularly heavy.

Will it Rain?
So that being said, any amount of rainfall can sometimes put a damper on an event, especially if it's something that you've been planning for a while. Weddings seem to fall into this category. Getting married in Seattle can be a risky business, made even more precarious if the event is planned for outside.

Cloudy weather at Pikes Place

So one of the tools you'll want to have when trying to predict upcoming Seattle rainfall statistics is an idea of whether or not it will rain on a given date or range of dates, and this might effect when you plan on having the event. For example, my wife and I were married in Seattle in August and we didn't have to worry about any rain. However, my wife's sister was married in May and it rained the whole day.

Well, luckily, in order to help you plan out your event, whether it be a birthday party, wedding, or whatever else, KOMO News in Seattle has put together a pretty cool table that they call:

What are the odds it'll rain on any given day?" komonews.com

What they've done is taken data from the National Weather Service in Seattle and plotted how many times it has rained on any given day between January 1, 1893 and December 31, 2008. You can then get an idea on what the chances are that it will rain that day.

So for example, by looking at the table I can see that in the last 116 years, it's only rained on August 8th a total of 10 times, which was the day we got married and it turned out to be a great day to get married! Anyway, check out the website. It's pretty cool!

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