Rivers across western Washington are running high enough to reshape familiar landscapes, leaving neighborhoods and farmland transformed by fast-moving water. Even as the heaviest rainfall fades, the region remains unsettled, with communities watching river gauges closely.
What Is Driving the Flooding?
An atmospheric river is essentially a narrow corridor of deep tropical moisture that funnels toward the coast, acting like a conveyor belt of heavy rain. When this moisture runs into Washington’s mountains, it’s squeezed out as prolonged, intense rainfall—often piling up far faster than rivers can carry it away.
Over the past three days, parts of western Washington saw more than a foot of rain, saturating soils and pushing many rivers well beyond flood stage.
Even though the system is weakening, runoff from earlier rainfall…
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Source www.theweather.com
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