We have been seeing a much-needed break in the wet, windy weather today but that will come to a very quick end into this evening as the atmospheric river moves back north from its quick visit to Oregon. Western Washington will once again see very wet and breezy conditions tonight through Thursday morning. While overall rainfall might not be as heavy in spots as in Round 1 on Monday, this will last a bitlonger, soils are completely saturated, and river systems cannot hold more water without flooding.
As rain moves back into the area tonight, another Wind Advisory will go into effect, with gusts in the 40-45 mph range from tonight through the day on Wednesday. These winds will cause more issues with fallen trees, as soils are now saturated in many areas from 1-4 inches of lowland rain on Monday and Monday night. Power outages are likely to increase.
Then there is the rainfall and flooding threat. Some forecast models have this next round of rainfall topping out in the 2-4-inch range in the lowlands from Tuesday night through Thursday morning with 5-8” in the mountains. This is what we saw as an average through Sunday night and Monday, though drawn out over a longer period. Still, there will be issues with urban flooding when the heaviest downpours hit, as storm drains are not equipped to handle the rainfall rates we’re likely to occasionally see.
Rivers will spike higher once again. Major flooding is expected on many of our river systems with crests higher than what we observed on Monday and into Tuesday. Major flooding is expected on the following rivers with the following times of peak river levels (subject to change with new forecasts):
Puyallup River near Orting: Wednesday morning
Snoqualmie River near Snoqualmie Falls: Wednesday night
Snoqualmie River at Carnation: Monday afternoon and an even higher crest Thursday morning
Tolt River at Carnation: Wednesday afternoon
Skykomish River at Gold Bar: Wednesday afternoon
Snohomish River at Monroe: Major flood stage by Wednesday afternoon, peaking Thursday afternoon
Snohomish River at Snohomish: Rises rapidly Wednesday to major flood stage Wednesday afternoon, peaking Thursday near record flood level.
Skagit River near Concrete: Major flood stage mid-afternoon Wednesday with peak Thursday morning
Skagit River at Mount Vernon: Major flood stage by Thursday morning, peaking early Friday morning near record flood level.
Carbon River near Fairfax: Wednesday afternoon
Nisqually River near National: Wednesday night
Cowlitz River at Randle: in major flood stage now through Friday morning
Cowlitz River at Packwood: Wednesday morning
White River at Auburn: Thursday into the weekend
Some minor coastal flooding is also possible, especially near the time of high tide and near where rivers empty into the Salish Sea.
Drier weather will be in the forecast from Thursday afternoon through Friday and the weekend with most rivers dropping quickly into the weekend though hazards will still remain, with debris and dangerous river currents.
While the weekend’s weather looks calmer, there are prospects for more warm, wet, windy weather systems next week – possibly with some atmospheric river components. It appears that we won’t have an end to the flooding threat in Western Washington through next week.
KIRO 7 will have live team coverage of this ongoing flooding threat through the event. Stay with us on-air and online.
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