You’ve heard the rumors. People call it the "Blue Hole" or the "Sunny Sequim" miracle. If you’re looking at the sequim washington weather forecast right now, you might be confused why the map shows a bright spot of sun while Seattle, just across the water, is getting absolutely hammered by a gray wall of mist. It feels like a glitch in the matrix. Honestly, it kind of is.
Right now, as of Saturday, January 17, 2026, Sequim is sitting at a crisp 48°F. It’s sunny. The wind is barely a whisper—just 2 mph coming out of the north. Meanwhile, the rest of Western Washington is basically living underwater.
The "Blue Hole" isn't just a marketing gimmick
Most people think "rain shadow" is just some fancy term real estate agents use to sell retirement homes. It's not. It is a literal physical shield. The Olympic Mountains basically act like a giant, rocky bouncer. When those heavy, wet storms roll in from the Pacific, they hit the mountains and get forced upward.
The air cools, dumps all its moisture on the Hoh Rainforest (we’re talking 140 inches a year there), and by the time that air reaches Sequim? It’s wrung out. Bone dry.
This creates a literal hole in the clouds. Pilots flying into Sea-Tac have talked about it for decades. They’ll be flying through soup and suddenly—boom—there’s this circular opening of blue sky right over the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
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What the next few days actually look like
If you're planning a trip or just trying to figure out if you need to mow the lawn, here is the breakdown of the sequim washington weather forecast for the upcoming week. It’s surprisingly consistent for January.
- Sunday (Jan 18): Expect a carbon copy of today. High of 48°F, low of 40°F. Still sunny.
- Monday (Jan 19): More sun. The high stays locked at 48°F. It’s going to feel great if you’re out walking the Dungeness Spit, but keep a jacket handy because that 39°F night chill is real.
- Tuesday (Jan 20): Things shift slightly. We’ll see some "partly sunny" skies. The humidity drops to 67%, which is actually quite low for this time of year.
- The Turning Point: By Friday, January 23rd, the rain shadow finally loses a round. We’re looking at light rain during the day and a potential rain and snow mix at night as the temperature dips to 35°F.
Why do cacti grow in a Washington rainforest?
This is the part that usually breaks people's brains. If you hike around the right spots in Sequim, you’ll find prickly pear cacti. Real ones. Growing in the wild.
In a state famous for slugs and moss, Sequim only gets about 16 inches of rain a year. To put that in perspective, Los Angeles gets about 14-15 inches. You are essentially living in a northern, maritime desert.
That’s why the lavender thrives here. It hates "wet feet." The well-drained prairie soil and the constant sun-breaks make it the "Lavender Capital of North America." If Sequim had the same weather as the rest of the Peninsula, those purple fields would just be a muddy mess of root rot.
The winter "Gray Period" trap
Don't get it twisted—Sequim isn't Palm Springs.
While we get way more sun than Seattle (about 300 days with at least some sun, though "mostly sunny" is closer to 127 days), January is still January. The "Blue Hole" sometimes fills with "Silver Funk." This is that low-hanging maritime fog that rolls in off the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
It can stay for days. It’s not raining, but everything feels damp. You’ll look at the sequim washington weather forecast, see a "sunny" icon, and then look out your window at a wall of white mist. Usually, that fog burns off by noon, but in the dead of winter, it likes to linger like an uninvited houseguest.
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How to actually dress for this nonsense
If you’re moving here or visiting, toss the umbrella. Seriously. Locals don't use them. The wind off the Strait will just turn your umbrella into a useless metal skeleton anyway.
Basically, you want layers.
- A base layer for the chilly 30s at night.
- A light fleece for the 40s in the shade.
- A windbreaker for the afternoon gusts.
The wind is the real "felt" temperature killer here. Even on a sunny day, if the wind is kicking up to 10 or 12 mph from the northwest, that 48°F is going to feel like 38°F.
What most people miss about the nights
Take a look at the lows for the next few days: 35°F, 40°F, 39°F. Because we have clearer skies than the rest of the state, we lose heat faster at night. It’s called radiational cooling. In Seattle, the cloud cover acts like a giant wool blanket, keeping the heat in. In Sequim, that heat just escapes straight into space.
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You’ll get beautiful starlit nights, but you’ll also be scraping frost off your windshield while your friends in Port Angeles just have wet windows.
Actionable steps for your week
Check the wind direction. If the forecast says the wind is coming from the Northwest (like it will be on Jan 24th at 11 mph), that’s the cold stuff coming off the water. If it’s from the South, the mountains might give you a bit more of a temperature boost.
Keep an eye on that Friday/Saturday transition. If you’re heading over the Miller Peninsula or up toward Hurricane Ridge, that snow shower forecast for January 24th is going to be much more intense the higher you go. While Sequim might just see a few flakes that melt on impact, the mountains will be getting hammered.
Check your garden. With the low humidity predicted for Tuesday (67%), those sensitive plants you’ve got in pots might actually need a drink, even though it’s winter. It’s the weirdest thing about Sequim—you have to water your plants in January more often than you’d think.