More river flooding expected

Weather only a duck could love the next few days as rain continues relentlessly in many areas.

While the South Sound has been rain shadowed (in the lee of the Olympics the Narrows airport has only received 0.04″ today), much of the rest of the area has received a half inch to more than an inch of rain since midnight and more is expected.

However, the rain shadow could shift north a bit later tonight and Thursday meaning the area from about Seattle to Bremerton south to near Tacoma could receive far less rain than the rest of the area, where a half-inch or more is expected tonight.

In the mountains, several inches of snow with a snow level rising to around 5,000 feet is expected. While this is not as high a snow level as last week, given how our rivers are still running high and fast, the rain will be enough to push many into flood stage.

Flooding is expected to reach major status (similar to last week) on the Snoqualmie and Tolt river systems on Thursday into Friday.

The Snohomish, Cedar and Cowlitz rivers are expected to reach moderate flood stage with minor flooding on the Stillaguamish, White, Skokomish and Nisqually rivers.

This forecast is subject to change.

Landslide risk will continue to be high as will avalanche risk, particularly in the area from Stevens Pass north through the Mountain Loop Highway where an Avalanche Warning is in effect.

We’ll see rain taper to showers Friday into early Saturday before another bout of rain Saturday evening. Sunday looks much drier. We’ll be cooler next week with a chance of mainly rain showers and mountain snow Monday and Tuesday.

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