Seattle, Washington Climate
Seattle weather by month — average highs and lows, rainfall, all-time records, and a 75-year warming record
Seattle has warmed 1.5°F since 1948.
Right now it's 60° in Seattle — about 3° below the June normal.
Seattle weather by month
Average high and low temperature and rainfall for every month, from the 1991–2020 climate normals — the 30-year reference period meteorologists use. The taller, warmer bands are summer; the short, cool bands are winter.
Seattle rainfall by month
Seattle averages 36.5 inches of precipitation a year. The wettest month is November and the driest is July.
Seattle temperature records
- All-time record high
- 105°Fset July 29, 2009
- All-time record low
- 3°Fset January 31, 1950
Records are drawn from the nearest long-term weather station’s full daily history, so they capture the most extreme single day Seattle has recorded — not a typical seasonal high or low.
How to read Seattle’s climate
A climate is the long-run average of weather, not any single day. The month-by-month panel above is built from Seattle’s 1991–2020 normals — the standard 30-year window meteorologists use, long enough to average out individual hot summers and mild winters but recent enough to describe the climate you actually live in. The high–low band for each month shows the typical daily swing: a tall band means big day-to-night contrast, a short band means the air stays close to one temperature around the clock.
The warming stripes at the top tell a different story — not what a typical year looks like, but how the typical year has changed. Each stripe is one year’s average temperature, colored against the long-run mean: cool blues in the mid-20th century shading to warm reds in recent decades. That shift is the same signal behind the headline figure — Seattle averages about 1.5°F warmer now than in 1948. The records below sit outside both averages: they’re the single most extreme days in the station’s record, the edges of what Seattle’s weather has ever done.
Frequently asked
- What is the hottest month in Seattle?
- In Seattle, the hottest stretch of the year is typically July and August, when average daily high temperatures peak. The month-by-month table above shows Seattle's exact average high and low for each month, based on the 1991–2020 climate normals — the standard 30-year reference period meteorologists use.
- What is the coldest month in Seattle?
- Seattle's coldest month is usually January, with December and February close behind. The averages-by-month chart above gives the exact average high and low for the coldest part of Seattle's year, so you can see how cold a typical winter day runs.
- How much does it rain in Seattle?
- Seattle's total annual precipitation and its wettest and driest months are shown in the rainfall-by-month section above. Those figures are 1991–2020 normals — the average monthly precipitation total across that 30-year window — so they reflect a typical year rather than any single wet or dry season.
- What months are best to visit Seattle?
- The most comfortable months in Seattle are usually the shoulder seasons — spring and fall — when temperatures sit between the summer peak and winter low and rainfall is moderate. Compare the average high, low, and precipitation for each month in the table above to pick the window that fits the weather you want.
- Has Seattle gotten hotter?
- Yes — like nearly every US city, Seattle has warmed measurably over the long run. The warming-trend chart above plots Seattle's annual mean temperature back to 1950 and shows the total change implied by the long-term trend line. The slope is positive, meaning recent decades average warmer than the mid-20th-century baseline.
- What is the record high temperature in Seattle?
- Seattle's all-time record high — the hottest single day in the archive — is shown in the records section above, along with the date it occurred. Records are drawn from the full historical window (1950 to present), so they capture the most extreme heat on record, not just a typical summer day.
- What is the record low temperature in Seattle?
- Seattle's all-time record low and the date it was set appear in the records section above. Like the record high, it comes from the full 1950-to-present archive, so it reflects the coldest day Seattle has recorded rather than an average winter low.
More for Seattle
See the full Seattle, WA weather forecast — hour-by-hour outlook, NOAA radar, satellite, and air quality.