Last Friday, I checked the Seattle weather forecast to see what the prospects for the weekend were. Morning fog, cloudy skies, damp, low 40s. Sigh. It was going to be typical Seattle winter, just as I’d been promised when I moved here.
Except that it wasn’t. On Saturday the fog and most of the clouds disappeared by lunchtime and it turned into a beautiful day. So when Sunday dawned with thick fog, we crossed our fingers, and by mid-morning things were looking brighter.

We jumped on a 99 bus ((The “temporary replacement” for the waterfront streetcar that was launched in 2005 and looks more permanent with each passing year.)) and rode out to the Sculpture Park. As we walked along the shoreline, the last of the clouds burned away, leaving a truly sparking day. I took a number of pictures, and the light was almost perfect.

Even though the Seattle area was cloud-free, we could still see bands of fog draped over the shores of Bainbridge Island and the slopes of the Olympics. But then even these began to burn off, and to my amazement Mount Rainier loomed out of the haze, 50 miles to the south.
In addition to the numerous freighters anchored in Puget Sound (waiting to load at the grain elevator) there were a couple of bonuses for the transport geek in me: an Amtrak train from Vancouver approaching the city from the north, and the prototype Boeing 777F turning finals towards Boeing Field.
So no, not all Seattle winter days are grey and wet. ((We’ve got about a week of nice weather ahead of us.)) But don’t bet against it….