SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
The Pacific Northwest is bracing for more rain as communities still work to recover from last week’s severe flooding.
The National Weather Service (NWS) is expecting a return to major flooding on the Skagit River, both in Mount Vernon and upstream in Concrete.
Officials also forecast flooding on the Stillaguamish River, the Snohomish River in Snohomish and Monroe, the Skykomish River, and the Snoqualmie River near Carnation and at Snoqualmie Falls.
Minor flooding is expected on the Cedar River, the Green River, the White River, the Puyallup River, and the Skokomish River along the Olympic Peninsula.
NWS: Get ready for ‘mixed bag’ of rain, wind from this week’s weather system
Kirby Cook, science and operations officer at NWS, told KIRO Newsradio a series of systems has moved in, with the first one tapering off Monday morning. Tuesday’s system is expected to bring more rain and wind.
“It’s going to be a mixed bag of more active weather, which is a little more than just rainfall. We’re going to be dealing with a little bit of wind today, some potential for some more wind tomorrow night, and then obviously the impact of rainfall on the rivers and some snowfall in the mountains,” he said.
Cook added that by Wednesday morning, heavier precipitation in the mountains will fall as snow rather than rain, which is good news for already swollen rivers. He’s hopeful the rivers will finally be able to recede in the next few days. However, he noted drainage will take time.
“We’re still dealing with the impacts of the rainfall last week, and some of that is all the storage in the dams that are there to mitigate the impacts of heavy rainfall. They’ve got to get rid of that. And so it’s all aggregated, and we need a period of time where we’re able to kind of drain off all that precipitation, and it does take a while,” he explained.
Cook reiterated that flooding won’t clear up until the water has time to drain, and then there is also the risk of wind and potential for heavy snow in the mountains.
“A lot of weather going on, it’s going to change in nature a little bit, in addition to being flooding, and folks should be aware of that,” he said.
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