Sunny skies end 27-day run on rain

One day after the Seahawks broke a 21-year playoff-victory drought, Seattle-area residents welcomed the arrival of a dry spell of another sort.

The region ended its streak of 27 consecutive rainy days on Sunday, although the break was expected to be brief. Forecasters say rain was expected to return by early today.

People like Gail Whitty took to the outdoors Sunday to enjoy the respite from the rain. "I haven't gone into a cafe today, because I didn't want to waste any sunlight," the Seattle woman said as she strolled through Gas Works Park.

Tim Haines wasn't outside, but even at his table at a Fremont coffee shop he noticed the sun glaring through the window.

"You had to feel sorry for all the vampires," he said.

However, the rain streak did bring out the competitive nature in others.

"I want it to rain, because I want to beat the record," Renee Poulin said.

While she just moved here from northern Virginia in October, she already has adopted the ways of her new home. She has been fending off the rain with a jacket borrowed from a sister-in-law, rather than carry an umbrella.

Johnny Burg of the National Weather Service apparently had gotten swept up in the mood as well.

"It's not looking very good right now," he warned earlier in the day, when the forecast was that the chance of rain wouldn't increase until after midnight.

For those hoping for a record, there could be some consolation: With the month only half over, January's rainfall — now at 6.78 inches — could eclipse the month's record set in 1953 when 12.92 inches fell at the National Weather Service station at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

That's the year it rained 33 days straight. The current streak was gauged by whether rain falls at the weather service's station at the airport.

It's also the most rain ever in 27 days in Seattle. That record had previously gone to a streak in November and December 1998.

The weather was still taking a toll in some places.

A Saturday-evening landslide knocked out passenger-train service between Seattle and Everett for the fourth time in recent weeks.

Amtrak's Sunday and Monday runs as well as Sound Transit's Sounder runs for today were canceled; service may resume Tuesday.

The track was closed to passenger trains starting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday after a mudslide blocked a section of track south of Mukilteo.

While the track was open to freight trains by 1:30 a.m. Sunday, passenger-train service is canceled for 48 hours after a slide to ensure hills are stabilized, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for BNSF Railway, which owns the tracks.

Amtrak is using buses to substitute for trains on routes affected by the closure, said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. Sound Transit will add extra express buses from Everett Station on Monday. Riders should check Sound Transit's Web site (www.soundtransit.org), or call 888-889-6368 to find out whether the route is running Tuesday.

By this morning, Sunday's sunshine will probably be a distant memory. The weather service says it's nearly guaranteed to rain today.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com