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Seattle March weather is wettest in decades

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It’s been a damp and dark 2017 so far

The Downtown Seattle skyline with heavy cloud cover is viewed from across Elliott Bay. A sailboat is on the water toward the center. Maëlick/Flickr

You’re not imagining it: Seattle’s weather has unusually dark and wet not only this month, but this entire season.

The National Weather Service Seattle chapter noted on Thursday that we’ve had 25 days of precipitation this month so far. The last March to have that concentration of rainy days was 28 years ago in 1989.

The quantity of rainfall is also high, although not quite as headline-making. As of Wednesday morning, precipitation in March added up to 7.21 inches, the fourth wettest since the 1890s. The record-holding year is 2014, with more than nine inches.

Add February’s precipitation and this is already the fourth wettest February through April. That’s not including the extra volume added with Wednesday night’s sprinkles.

With all that rain, the cloud cover has also been bananas. Seattle has only seen nine days with 30 percent cloud cover or less since October.

Also notable: We haven’t broken 60 degrees yet in 2017. The last time we failed to break 60 in March was in 2002. Last year, we broke 60 seven times.

This weekend’s forecast predicts a high of 57 on Friday, so while it seems possible we’ll make it in under the wire, it doesn’t seem like the safest bet.

Buckle up for some more rainclouds, because April’s not supposed to be much better. This is what we signed up for, right?

This article has been updated since its original publication to correct erroneous ranking of precipitation inches.