Thursday, December 9, 2010

Heavy Rain this Weekend

The National Weather Service has advised us of some significant rainfall this coming weekend that has the potential to raise river levels and possibly cause some minor flooding.
Here are the details:

  • A very wet and warm weather pattern with tropical moisture is heading toward the Pacific northwest.
  • There will be two significant batches of rain
  1. The first one (Sat night/Sunday) is the strongest and of most concern. This system has the potential of dropping 3" to 6" of rain at the coast, in the Coast Range, Willapa Hills and the Cascades. It may drop from 1" to 3" inland.
  2. The second system comes in on Monday with a cold front and may drop 1" to 2" of rain in the Coast Range, Willapa Hills and the Cascades, and .5" to 1" inland.
  • Sharp rises in river levels are expected to push rivers to their banks Saturday night into Sunday, but the break in the rainfall on Sunday should allow most rivers to recede somewhat before the Monday rain.

At this point, it is still uncertain where the focus of the precipitation will be; the amount of rainfall may vary from the predicted numbers depending on where the precipitation focuses.

Hazards to proactively prepare for:
  • Heavy rain
  • River flooding, urban and small stream flooding
  • Landslides and debris flow potential, especially Coast Range
For further information:
www.nwrfc.noaa.gov (river forecasts and data)

Please check back for updates.