Sleetless in Seattle: City gets little rain and no snow this dry January

Whether you’ve been drinking alcohol or abstaining, it’s been an exceptionally dry January in the Seattle area.
Only one inch of rain has fallen on Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in January, according to the National Weather Service, less than one-fifth the normal amount so far this month.
As of noon Thursday, the airport had gone two full weeks with no measurable precipitation.
RELATED: Western Washington is having a dry (weather) January, and a cold one
So far in 2025, Olympia has 1.6 inches, or one-fifth of its typical rain, while Bellingham has had 1.4 inches, or less than one-third its usual rainfall.
It has been a dry January in the mountains as well.
Snowpack in the west side of the central Cascades was 44% below normal on Jan. 29, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, while snowpack in the mountains of North Puget Sound was 32% below normal. Statewide, snowpack was 19% below normal (defined as the typical amount for the years 1991-2020).
Rain and snow were forecast to hit Western Washington Thursday evening and Friday, though not enough to bring the region anywhere near its normal January wetness.
RELATED: U.S. hydropower drops to 20-year low as Northwest snowpack shrinks