The Pacific Northwest can't wait to get to December fast enough. There have been a number of storms in November that have caused flooding and destruction.
Flood watches and warnings are in effect in Washington and British Columbia. Warm conditions have boosted snow levels to 10,000 feet, meaning rain will fall at high altitudes and melt the snow, sending more water into rivers and flooding the soil.
The stunning totals of rain seen over the course of this month are the reason the soils are so wet. The National Weather Service office in Seattle made me think. It shows that a large swath of the Olympics and the Cascades have seen 50 inches or more of rain in November. 13 years of annual rainfall for Las Vegas is what the office notes. The areas that are light-gray are actually where the heaviest rain fell, not the areas that are dark-colored. My double-take.
The Northwest is usually a damp place in the winter when the jet stream sends storms over the region. The Olympics and the Cascades act as major rain catchers, wringing out the rain in the lowlands and snow on the high peaks. The first mountain range to be hit by storms when they come off the Pacific is the Olympics. The only temperate rainforest in the Lower 48 is located to the west of the range. It is one of the most incredible places on Earth and home to the quietest place in the U.S.
The next barrier storms called the Cascades are the ones that wring most of the rain out of storms. The east side of the mountain ranges has a lot of rain shadows, particularly the east of theCascades.
The map from the NWS Seattle office shows the pattern clearly, but the magnitude of the rain is much higher. This November has been shocking even by the region's soggy standards. A major atmospheric river brought water from the tropics to the region. There was up to 2 feet of rain that fell on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Farmers used jet ski rescues for their cattle herds after every road connecting Vancouver to the rest of Canada was closed due to damage.
The region has been 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 The Trans-Canada Highway was shut down this weekend so authorities could build a dam. The rain on the last day of the month will make it the wettest November in Seattle history. There are many daily rainfall records set across the region.
La Nia is a natural climate phenomenon that occurs every few years in the tropical Pacific and is one of the main drivers of wet weather in the Pacific Northwest. The formation of La Nia could be a factor. Climate change has increased the intensity of the heavy rains, like the ones that hit the Northwest recently. The record-smashing heat wave this summer has been caused by burning fossil fuels. This one-two punch shows how much we need to be prepared for all of the dangers that intersect.
The month of November is ending. The good news is that the region has many more months of rainy weather left.
