The National Weather Service in Seattle is forecasting a bout of inclement weather for the area, bringing showers and thunderstorms later this afternoon with an 80 percent chance of precipitation, as per a recent update. Meteorologists expect the conditions to persist into the night with similar chances for rain and thunder before the skies clear somewhat by Tuesday. Today's high is anticipated to reach only 55 degrees, with brisk southwest winds potentially gusting as high as 23 mph, which could lead to a chill that belies the Spring season, and the rains are set to add less than a tenth of an inch to Seattle's already saturated grounds.

Tonight's outlook remains soggy as showers and thunderstorms continue until around 11 pm, then they decrease in frequency; however, Seattle should prepare for a windy night as the north winds shift south after midnight and the low-temperature hovers around 42 degrees, and as the week progresses, the forecast indicates a gradual clearing with a meager 20 percent chance of rain expected on Tuesday and a partly sunny sky that could herald a brighter midweek respite.

Temperatures are slated to climb later in the week with Wednesday's forecast showing mostly sunny skies and a high near 61. Thursday promises to further this trend with an even sunnier outlook and a high of about 70 degrees with highs projected near the upper 70s and clear nights.

The warming pattern appears set to peak on Friday, with anticipated highs cresting at a toasty 78 degrees under uninterrupted sunshine, the increase in temperature and absence of clouds are forecasted to continue into the weekend, and Seattle could be in for one of its most splendid stretches of the year indeed, stretching clear skies from the Puget Sound across the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula, up into the Eastern high desert, and down through the rolling hills of the Palouse.