Think it’s been a wet and wild week? Wait till you see what’s coming
As strong winds battered Whatcom County for the third time this week, forecasters are warning that next week will bring another series of back-to-back storms.
“Out over the Pacific, we have a train of these storms that will be affecting us for the next several days,” said Jay Albrecht, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
That could mean rain in the mountains and flooding in the lowlands as rain as snowmelt pours into rivers and creates a torrent of water downstream, Albrecht said Friday in an interview with The Bellingham Herald.
It could also be troublesome for Mt. Baker Ski Area, which just opened for the season on Wednesday, and for low-lying areas along the Nooksack River.
Friday’s storm brought warm, windy weather — including a high of 63 degrees that tied a record from 1962.
After a break on Saturday, another storm arrives Sunday and rain is in the forecast daily through at least Thursday.
About a quarter-inch of rainfall is possible each day, according to the forecast for Bellingham at the weather service website.
Highs each day will be around 50 degrees because the storms originate in the South Pacific and are part of a classic Pineapple Express pattern, Albrecht wrote on the weather service website.
“Extended models continue to show the potential for an atmospheric river aimed at Western Washington with the source region for the air mass from around Hawaii in the middle of next week,” he wrote.
“Snow levels will be high and rainfall amounts may be high and rather persistent. There is the possibility that several rivers around the area could reach flood stage by the middle of next week.”
Albrecht said that the predicted flooding next week could be a “moderate to big event” as opposed to the mild flooding seen a few times in November from the South Fork Valley east to Ferndale and the Nooksack Delta near Marietta.
This story was originally published December 14, 2018 at 8:49 AM.
