Massive Atmospheric River Strikes Pacific Northwest

Atmospheric River stretches thousands of miles, begins in subtropics east of Guam

An atmospheric river raced across the Pacific Ocean and then slammed into the Pacific Northwest Friday.

Due to a rain shadow, the central Puget Sound region did not receive the heavy rains that impacted other areas.

The storm brought snow to the mountains and mostly mild flooding to the lowlands.

Prior to the storm’s arrival, Beyond 90 Seconds went live on Facebook along the Snohomish River in downtown Snohomish. The purpose of the live report was to document that day’s appearance of the river so that we could later see how much the water level would change by Friday and Saturday.

Beyond 90 Seconds’ cameras returned to the river on Friday and Saturday.

A chronology of our coverage can be found in the YouTube playlist below.

In his blog post The Lowland Snow Outlook, A Wind Surge through the Strait, Amazing Precipitation Totals, and Problematic Passes, Mass writes, “It is probably time for the US Drought Monitor to drop the SEVERE drought over western Washington.” 

See the National Weather Service forecast for Western Washington here.