Weather wallop to hit Pierce County with rain, wind, flooding and landslides
An atmospheric river of weather is aiming at western Washington Tuesday, and it’s bringing a lot of unwanted baggage: flooding, wind, landslides, avalanches and lots of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
The warm and wet weather will last into Wednesday.
Drier weather is coming. Rivers will continue to recede as rain tapers off Thursday and into the weekend.
Rain and flooding
Heavy rain will increase threats of river flooding, landslides and urban and small stream flooding Tuesday and into Wednesday, the Weather Service said.
Rain will get heavier Tuesday night but ease on Wednesday. However, flooding threats will continue as will the threat of landslides.
Tacoma Power advised it will increase water flow from its LaGrande Dam on the Nisqually River. Thurston County Emergency Management issued a flood watch for the Nisqually and has concerns for flooding on the Skookumchuck and Deschutes rivers.
The upper and lower parts of the Chehalis River were at risk for flooding, the Weather Service said.
On the coast, Pacific County Emergency Management issued a flood warning for the city of Raymond on Tuesday. The city can be subject to flooding from tidal overflow.
The landslide threat remains high this week. The heavy rain hitting the region is falling on already saturated soils, the Weather Service said.
In the 24-hour period ending 8 a.m. Tuesday, 2.39 inches of rain had fallen in Tacoma.
Wind
The strongest winds will hit the coast, with gusts blowing up to 50 miles per hour. In Pierce County, gusts will be half that. Winds out of the south were blowing at 13 mph Tuesday morning in Tacoma.
The National Weather Service warned of falling trees and power outages.
Snow
Tuesday’s snow levels were expected to rise to between 6,000 and 8,000 feet.
The state Department of Transportation reported that it was raining at 3,022-foot Snoqualmie Pass at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The highway was reported to have compact snow slush and ice.
Avalanche danger remained high Tuesday, according the Northwest Avalanche Center. The combination of heavy snow, rain and warm temperatures make for unstable slopes, the Weather Service said.
The snow level was expected to drop to 3,000 feet by Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service warned of snow-covered roads and travel delays.
Waves and tides
Dangerous beach conditions were expected to continue through Tuesday, the Weather Service said. The storm is coinciding with so-called king tides — unusually high tides. Tuesday’s high tide at noon and was expected to bring dangerous conditions to the coast.
Wednesday could see higher than usual tides in Puget Sound and might lead to tidal overflow in some areas.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 11:02 AM.
