Clear Seattle-area skies for viewing Perseid meteor shower and 90-degree temps on the way

A high-pressure ridge over the Puget Sound region made Wednesday the coolest and cloudiest day of the week, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Wednesday hit a high of 71 degrees by 5 p.m., said weather service meteorologist Reid Wolcott. Starting Thursday, temperatures are expected to increase slightly each day, until some places reach the 90s on Sunday.

“We’re going to very slowly ramp up through Friday … and we’re going to have one more real good, warm day there on Sunday,” Wolcott said.

If Seattle does hit 90 degrees on Sunday, it will be our third day doing so this year. The area has had far fewer days of such extreme heat in 2020 than in years past. Just two years ago, we’d had nine consecutive days of 85 degrees or warmer by this time.

Monday and Tuesday will be slightly cooler, but not much, with temperatures in the mid- to low 80s, said weather service meteorologist Justin Pullin.

There’s some uncertainty surrounding the forecast for early next week, Wolcott said, but we could see showers or some thunderstorms.

The high-pressure ridge and offshore flow mean conditions are likely to be good for viewing the Perseid meteor shower, which will be visible nightly through Aug. 26.

“We’ll basically have clear skies the rest of the week,” Pullin said Wednesday morning.

The Perseids light up the sky when Earth runs into pieces of cosmic debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle.

The best way to see a meteor shower is to get to a location that has a clear view of the entire night sky. Ideally, that would be somewhere away from city lights and traffic. To maximize your chances of catching the show, look for a spot that offers a wide, unobstructed view.

Bits and pieces of meteor showers are visible for a certain period of time, but visibility peaks from dusk to dawn during the few days when Earth’s orbit crosses through the thickest part of the cosmic stream. Meteor showers can vary in their peak times, with some reaching their maximums for only a few hours and others for several nights.

The showers tend to be most visible after midnight and before dawn.

Seattle Times staff reporter Elise Takahama contributed to this report, which also includes information from The New York Times.