Best time to visit Seattle

Seattle is a city of two halves. July scores 94 and December scores 23 — a 71-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. The good window runs July to August — 2 months within ten points of the best.

August is the warmest month at 23.9 °C and December the coolest at 7 °C — a 16.9 °C spread across the year. 26 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. January, March, April, November and December carry the rain — up to 20 wet days in a month — while July to August drop as low as 4. That 16-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Seattle, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 8.5 hours in winter to 16 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are July, August, September. The one to think twice about is December. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Seattle month by month