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Cliff Mass: Gloom Looms As Sunshine Takes The Weekend Off

The weekend curse is back, according to KPLU weather expert Cliff Mass.

After a week of unseasonably warm and dry weather, reaching up into the 80s more than once, temperatures are set to drop about 10 degrees on Friday, and step down another 10 or so over the weekend.

“The ridge that was protecting us for so long is now shifting off to the east,” said Mass.

That means the air flowing offshore is switching direction, bring the cooler marine air over western Washington.

“[Friday] won’t be a terrible day, there really isn’t any rain at all. Better than normal really,” said Mass.

June Gloom In May

But things go downhill once the work week wraps up. Expect scattered showers Saturday with temperatures in the mid- to upper-60s, and an even cooler and wetter Sunday.

All this, said Mass, is classic Northwest spring weather.

“We’re going to start approaching the June gloom time of year. Often there's a break in mid-May, where the temperatures go up into the 70s and 80s, and then we inevitably slide down to the cloudy June-ish weather,” he said.

But forebear, said Mass: The weekend curse will lift after Sunday as that protective ridge rebuilds, and the weather will warm up significantly as the week progresses.

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The weekly KPLU feature "Weather with Cliff Mass" airs every Friday at 9 a.m. immediately following BirdNote, and twice on Friday afternoons during All Things Considered. Cliff Mass is a University of Washington Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, a renowned Seattle weather prognosticator, and a popular weather blogger. You can also subscribe to a podcast of “Weather with Cliff Mass” shows.

Gabriel Spitzer is a former KNKX reporter, producer and host who covered science and health and worked on the show Sound Effect.