Your Seattle Rock and Roll Race Weather Update

There has been ALOT of twitter chat about the weather for this week's Rock and Roll Seattle race. Given the bi-polar personality of Seattle weather I understand why people stress out.  I mean how can we all plan our race day outfits when we have no idea what race day will be like!!  Runners have such hard problems :).

cartoon by David Horsey

So, I took advantage of some expertise I have here at work to provide you all with what I consider the most accurate weather forecast for Saturday, June 23.  This forecast is straight from the mouth of the Washington State Climatologist and self proclaimed weather geek, Dr. Nick Bond.  He does a radio spot on KUOW every Friday around 9:50 and usually discusses the weekend weather so tune in on Friday to hear more!  I may have hinted that he should discuss race morning weather on this Friday's show...

Seattle weather is tricky tricky to forecast since we get our weather from the ocean. The ocean can be super temperamental at times and that is why it is really hard to figure out exactly when a certain weather system will come onshore.  Will the sun and warm weather stick around until after the race or will the cloudy/rainy system come in the Puget Sound Friday evening and stick around for race day?  Dr. Bond is convinced the weather WILL be cool and cloudy, essentially perfect running conditions right?  But what about the RAIN!!??

According to Dr. Bond, "I can assure that you will not have to worry about dust storms"

Did I mention he has a great sense of humor?

So here is the weather report as of Wednesday morning in a good news/bad news format

THE GOOD NEWS:

• Temperatures at the start will be in the low 50's only rising to the low 60's by early afternoon
• A solid cloud cover will be over the Puget Sound for the entire race
• Winds will be really weak and almost nonexistent 

OK, the BAD NEWS:

• Current models predict a 60-70% chance of rain Saturday morning in Seattle. This means there is a 30-40% chance it will NOT rain...take that as you will

Hey, that is the only bad news and it even comes with some caveats.  Dr. Bond stated that there is a CHANCE the weather pattern will favor showers more south and east of downtown and you may actually never feel a sprinkle.  But hey, I'm just the messenger so don't hunt me down and yell at me if you get caught in a downpour on Saturday ;).

It will NOT look like this (source)

Probably more like THIS (source)

So in summary, it will be cool and cloudy, you might get a little wet but probably not drenched, and you will ALL finish your races with a smile on your face :).  I'm certain those fun space blankets they hand out at the finish will be much needed and heavily used!  

In the meantime I encourage you all to stalk the NOAA weather website for Seattle where you can find out all your little heart desires about the weather:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/

I'll be sure to get an updated forecast on Friday before heading to the Expo and can indulge all of you in some weather knowledge at any of the blogger meet ups if you want to talk nerd with me!