Happy Veteran’s Day!
We had PinPoint Alert Day conditions Monday morning with steady rain that has ended.
Why the alert then?
Well, rain was very heavy overnight, there’s a lot of standing water, and I imagine for those of you who do have to head out, it will be a tough morning commute. I really needed to move slowly through the rain and there were plenty of clogged storm drains.
All of that said, yes, there was a PinPoint Alert just for the morning hours. The widespread rain will taper off over the next few hours, leading to showers that could be heavy at times along with the chance for isolated thunderstorms. Snow levels will fall later today and tonight, closer to 4,000′. Expect heavier pockets of snow at higher elevations. Hydroplaning could be a real issue Monday morning, so please be careful.
While Tuesday starts out pretty quiet with a few showers, a wet and windy storm system plows into the area late in the day into Wednesday. The timing of the heavy rain and gusty winds are still yet to be nailed down, but it looks like we could have some stiff winds across the north and coast and pretty breezy elsewhere. Rain will be very heavy late Tuesday through at least early Wednesday. Snow levels around 4,000 feet could mean some heavy snow around Stevens Pass and higher spots, though not likely at Snoqualmie Pass. Our system Monday will probably total around 2-4″ in the Olympics with another 3-5″ possible with the second round!
River flooding could occur Wednesday or Thursday on the Skokomish River in Mason County (our most flood-prone river) with other rivers spiking higher. However, the impacts on the Cascade river systems will be blunted somewhat by the snow levels being lower than we might see in an atmospheric river weather system. Still, we’ll be on watch.
We should be slightly drier on Friday and Saturday with the potential for more rain and mountain snow on Sunday.