The best time to visit Seattle is July to September, when NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals show 0.60 to 1.61 inches of rain a month and average highs of 71.6 to 77.6 F. November is the wettest month, with 6.31 inches. We pulled the weather data and read the National Park Service, Port of Seattle and festival pages on 15 October 2026.
Seattle by month: temperature, rain and daylight
Note: Temperature and rain are NOAA 1991 to 2020 monthly normals for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (station USW00024233), read from the NCEI data service on 15 Oct 2026. Rain days are the average number of days with 0.01 inch or more. Daylight is sunrise to sunset on the 15th of the month in 2026, from the US Naval Observatory's sun data service (aa.usno.navy.mil, read 15 Oct 2026). The airport is south of the city, so downtown can differ
| Month | Average high / low (F) | Rain (in) | Rain days | Daylight on the 15th | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48.0 / 37.7 | 5.78 | 18.7 | 8 h 52 min | Wet and dark |
| February | 50.3 / 37.7 | 3.76 | 15.9 | 10 h 18 min | Still wet, days getting longer |
| March | 54.2 / 39.9 | 4.17 | 17.1 | 11 h 53 min | Cool, rain on more than half the days |
| April | 59.3 / 43.3 | 3.18 | 15.0 | 13 h 39 min | Cool, rain easing |
| May | 66.3 / 48.7 | 1.88 | 11.3 | 15 h 08 min | Mild, long evenings |
| June | 71.1 / 53.0 | 1.45 | 9.2 | 15 h 58 min | Mild, longest days |
| July | 77.4 / 56.8 | 0.60 | 4.7 | 15 h 36 min | Driest month |
| August | 77.6 / 57.2 | 0.97 | 4.9 | 14 h 16 min | Warmest month |
| September | 71.6 / 53.6 | 1.61 | 8.3 | 12 h 34 min | Mild, rain returns late in the month |
| October | 60.5 / 47.0 | 3.91 | 14.3 | 10 h 53 min | Cooler and wetter |
| November | 52.1 / 40.9 | 6.31 | 18.4 | 9 h 18 min | Wettest month |
| December | 47.0 / 37.1 | 5.72 | 18.4 | 8 h 27 min | Shortest days |
Hot days are rare. NOAA gives an average of 1.8 days in July and 1.2 in August with a high of 90 F or more, and none from October to May. Nights fall below freezing on 7.0 days in January and 7.2 days in December. These are 30 year averages for one station, so a single week can be much warmer, colder or wetter.
The best time, by plan
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Warm, dry weather and long evenings: July, August and the first half of September. This is our reading of the table. On 15 August the sun sets at 8:21 p.m.
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Fewer rainy days without summer prices: May and June, with 1.88 and 1.45 inches. We did not check hotel prices, so we cannot say which month costs less.
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Mount Rainier: late July to early September. See the next section.
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Olympic National Park: June to September for the full set of roads and services. See below.
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Indoor sights: November to March, if you accept rain. Our things-to-do guide lists the museums and the market with their hours. We did not check visitor numbers for these months.
Mount Rainier by season
Note: NPS's weather page says the climate is "generally cool and rainy, with summer highs in the 60s and 70s", that late July and August are generally the driest and warmest time of the year, and that snow stays at the 5,000 to 8,000 feet elevation well into mid-July. Paradise (5,400 feet) has an average July high of about 64 F and a January high of about 33 F (NPS Mount Rainier weather page, updated 3 Sep 2024, read 15 Oct 2026)
Note: On 14 Oct 2026 NPS's road status page said Sunrise Road was closed to vehicles until further notice because of the Grand Park 2 and Wonderland Complex fires, open to pedestrians and bicyclists. Stevens Canyon Road was open and scheduled to close on 26 October. Paradise Valley Road was scheduled to close on 19 October. SR 410 (Chinook Pass) was estimated to close for the season in mid to late November. Tire chains are required for all vehicles from 1 November to 1 May. Dates can change (NPS road status page, updated 14 Oct 2026)
Hours: From 13 October the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center at Paradise is open 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Friday to Monday, and closed Tuesday to Thursday, until weather requires nightly gate closures. Paradise Inn is closed for the season. Winter vehicle access is through the Nisqually Entrance only. Wait times at the Nisqually and White River entrances can be over an hour on the busiest summer weekends and holidays, and NPS says entering before 10 a.m. or after 2:30 p.m. helps (NPS hours and seasons page, updated 13 Oct 2026)
The pages we read give no usual opening dates for the summer roads. We also could not read a 2026 or 2027 timed entry page, since NPS's page was blank. Check NPS before you plan a summer day. Sunrise is closed because of fire this season, and we cannot say when it will reopen.
Olympic National Park by season
Note: NPS says Olympic is open 24 hours a day all year, and that from October through May some roads, campgrounds and visitor facilities are closed or have reduced hours. Visitor centers and Hurricane Ridge Road are closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas (NPS hours and seasons page, updated 18 Apr 2024, read 15 Oct 2026)
Note: Rain varies by side of the park. NPS gives 100 to 170 inches a year along the coast and in the western valleys and 25 to 30 inches at the park headquarters near Port Angeles. Hurricane Ridge records 30 to 35 feet of snow a year. Snow and heavy rain can fall in the higher elevations into June, and snow can reach the high country as early as late September (NPS weather page, updated 18 Mar 2025, read 15 Oct 2026)
Hours: Hurricane Ridge Road in winter is typically open to uphill traffic 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and some holidays, weather and road conditions permitting, and can open as late as 12 p.m. Tire chains must be carried above the Heart O' the Hills entrance from 1 November to 1 April. The page covered the 2025 to 2026 season and had posted no 2026 to 2027 dates (NPS Hurricane Ridge winter page, updated 4 Apr 2026, read 15 Oct 2026)
For a day trip from Seattle, summer gives you all of this open. The drive, ferry and one-day plans are in our Olympic guide. Entrance waits at the Hoh Rain Forest can reach 2 hours, so NPS advises arriving before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m. (NPS conditions page, as read for that guide on 14 Oct 2026).
Alaska cruise season
Note: The Port of Seattle said the 2026 Alaska season would begin on Friday 17 April with the first in-transit arrival and would bring 330 vessel calls and about 2.1 million revenue passengers, the most in its history (Port of Seattle news release, 16 Apr 2026, read 15 Oct 2026). Its 2026 schedule, published 20 Apr 2026, lists 330 calls from 17 April to 11 October 2026, and says the schedule is subject to change
| Month in 2026 | Calls on the Port's draft schedule |
|---|---|
| April | 9 |
| May | 63 |
| June | 60 |
| July | 68 |
| August | 68 |
| September | 52 |
| October | 10 |
The monthly count is ours, from the schedule's date column, and it adds up to the Port's 330. For 2027, the Port's preliminary schedule (published 2 Oct 2026) lists 331 calls from 27 March to 17 October 2027. The two March calls are one in-transit ship, and the next call is on 14 April. Preliminary means the dates can still change.
Events with dates
Note: Seafair 2026: Seafair 4th of July on 4 July, the Torchlight Parade on 25 July and Seafair Weekend Festival from 31 July to 2 August. The page shows no 2027 dates yet (seafair.org, read 15 Oct 2026)
Note: Bumbershoot was listed for 5 and 6 September 2026 at Seattle Center, on Labor Day weekend. The page gave no 2027 dates (bumbershoot.com, read 15 Oct 2026)
Note: Northwest Folklife Festival lists 28 to 31 May 2027 (nwfolklife.org festival page, read 15 Oct 2026)
We did not check other festivals, ticket prices or hotel rates for these dates.
Crowds and prices
We found no official visitor count by month for Seattle. In our estimate, July and August are the busiest, because the weather is best, the cruise ships are at their most frequent and Seafair falls in this window. The cruise count above comes from the Port's schedule, but the link to hotel crowds is our reasoning. We did not check hotel rates for any month, so we give no price bands.
The worst time to visit
In our view, it is November to January. NOAA's normals show 5.72 to 6.31 inches of rain a month, rain on 18 days or more, and as little as 8 hours 27 minutes of daylight in mid-December. Mount Rainier's Sunrise side and many Olympic facilities are closed or reduced, and snow and chains matter above the lowlands. This is a view, not an official ranking.
What we checked and what can change
Read on 15 October 2026: NOAA's NCEI 1991 to 2020 monthly normals for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (USW00024233); the US Naval Observatory sunrise and sunset service for Seattle at 47.6062 N, 122.3321 W; NPS pages for Mount Rainier (weather, hours and seasons, road status) and Olympic (hours and seasons, weather, Hurricane Ridge in winter); the Port of Seattle's 2026 season release, its 2026 schedule (20 April 2026) and its preliminary 2027 schedule (2 October 2026); and the Seafair, Bumbershoot and Northwest Folklife sites.
Not confirmed: daylight for any other date, rain at downtown or at the mountains from NOAA, a usual opening date for the Rainier summer roads, when Sunrise will reopen, a Rainier timed entry rule, the final 2026 cruise count, final 2027 cruise dates, Seafair, Bumbershoot and Folklife dates beyond those above, hotel rates, and crowd levels by month. Averages are 30 year normals, so any single week can differ. Roads, closures and event dates change, so check the official pages before you book.
