Updated Thursday 3:35 p.m.

Anyone have a dust cloth?

Our rain icons have been pretty much left in the corner of the weather computer closet of late, right next to the snowflake and a weird dust storm icon that I don't even know why they put in our computer to begin with.  But it appears it's finally time to dust them off and trot them out for a rare appearance.

Not quite yet though -- the weather is still in the sunny category for the next day, but long range models definitely have us drifting toward gray than blue over the coming days.

Tonight will be mostly clear but chilly again by summer standards. Lows will drop into the 40s in the outlying areas to near 50 in the city.  (So if you have a young kid who is fast outgrowing their 12 month pajamas, even though she's only 11 months old, it might be time to put her in something that doesn't leave her in virtual shorts. :) )

Friday will be somewhat like today, but a bit breezier as marine winds increase in the afternoon.  We'll start with patchy clouds, but go mostly sunny as a general rule, with clouds increasing along the coast late. Highs will reach the mid 70s, but will drop quickly after sunset so bring a jacket if out late.

A weak front then pushes through on Friday night and Saturday morning. That plus ensuing strong marine flow will really sock us in for low clouds and pretty much make Saturday an overcast day start to finish. There's even some spotty drizzle likely, especially north and along the coast. Highs will only reach the mid 60s.

The front's main trough of low pressure will then push through on Saturday night into Sunday, giving a chance of light rain showers to the region, although best chance along coast, foothills, and in the Puget Sound Convergence Zone between Seattle and Everett.  This is making me wrinkle my face about being able to claim the Torchlight Parade will stay dry, but at this point that appears to still be the case. And anything that does fall will be really light. We'll see what tomorrow's forecast brings for the weekend, but still not a washout by any stretch.   Also not quite enough to actually make us put rain on the 7 day since it's not a widespread enough chance.

Sunday will begin cloudy with areas of drizzle or perhaps still lingering light showers along the coast/foothills and convergence zone areas, but it should all be over by mid-morning. The clouds will be tough to clear though - perhaps some sunbreaks late, but still gray overall. Highs are now expected to stay in the 60s.

We briefly rebound for Monday, which features morning clouds but then afternoon sunshine and highs back into the 70s.

Forecasting models are now starting to more strongly hint at good old-fashioned light rain showers for Tuesday, and we're now going to bite and put those rain icons on the graphic. Highs will drop back into the 60s.

Maybe a few lingering showers Wednesday morning, but then we'll dry out and begin to clear for the afternoon. And once again, highs should climb back over the 70 degree mark.

Long range forecasts show perhaps a few more clouds for Thursday, and perhaps even a few sprinkles again, but this stretch of late July/early August is the most difficult and infrequent time of the year to get rain in Seattle, so we'd be fighting history.

For now, we'll keep it dry, but the rain icons will sit here on the table next to the computer, just to keep them handy :)

Scott Sistek
KOMONews.Com Meteorologist