Season’s first cold snap, including freezing temperatures, forecast for South Sound
Ready the pumpkin spice lattes and scarves. A cold blast from the north is headed to Puget Sound this weekend.
Cold air from Canada is sweeping into the region and bringing colder than normal temperatures with the possibility of the area’s first freeze. The good news: The skies will be sunny all weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The NWS is advising that the coming freeze could affect people living outdoors, pets and tender plants.
The coming cold
In the Tacoma metro area, low temperatures were expected to stay just above freezing Thursday and Friday at around 36 degrees. Further east, foothill towns such as Eatonville could see 32 degrees.
But button up for Saturday. Temperatures drop with Tacoma seeing a low of 32 degrees. Enumclaw will bottom out at 28 degrees and Cascades passes will see lows in the mid-teens. White Pass is expected to drop to 14 degrees.
Tacoma has a 52 percent chance of reaching freezing on Saturday while Olympia’s chances are 91 percent, according to the NWS.
Bright skies
Along with the cold comes clear skies. The weekend will be sunny across the region. Daytime highs will be in the low 50s in the Tacoma area, according to NWS meteorologist Kayla Mazurkiewicz
Mountain snow was expected to taper off on Thursday, but Mazurkiewicz urged drivers to use caution on passes and other roads that might be icy through the weekend.
Although Halloween is a week away, Mazurkiewicz said the forecast is calling for continued dry weather into next week.
This story was originally published October 26, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
