Rounds of Heavy Rain on Sunday

Seattle Weather: heavy rain and strong winds

FOX 13 Seattle Meteorologist Ilona McCauley has your latest western Washington weather forecast!

Seattle - With the arrival of the atmospheric river today came periods of heavy rain and breezy winds. Wind gusts around our region were reported, ranging from 25mph to almost 60mph. Winds are forecast to be breezy again on Sunday with high winds expected from Monday night into Tuesday.

Wind speeds around Western Washington today.

Breezy winds around Western Washington today as the atmospheric river arrived today.

With snow levels hovering around 6000', much of the precipitation is falling as rain in our mountains. This is leading to a lot of runoff into our area rivers with levels rising, especially along the Skokomish. With more rain forecast to push through tomorrow, we are monitoring other rivers too.

Rising rivers around Western Washington.

Warm, moist air is pushing snow levels higher resulting in a lot of runoff into area rivers.

There’s a widespread Flood Watch in effect for much of Western Washington to reflect the chance for rising rivers, creeks and streams in the coming days. We even can’t rule out hyper-localized street flooding where torrential rain develops over areas with poor drainage.

Other rivers in Western Washington will be rising in the coming days – potentially nearing or exceeding flood stage in some areas by Sunday and/or Monday. This includes the Snoqualmie River. This doesn’t look like a major river flooding event by any stretch: in fact, it looks mostly minor. However, if you live in flood-prone valleys, just stay tuned to our forecasts.

The areas with the best chance of river flooding will be for rivers coming out of the Central and Southern Washington Cascades, the Olympics and in Southwest Washington.

Flooding will happen in the Skokomish River over the coming days.

A Flood Warning is in effect for the Skokomish River in Mason County. (FOX 13 Seattle)

Rounds of heavy rain will sweep through the Seattle area Saturday through Tuesday morning.

A Flood Watch is posted for many places in Western Washington, including in Seattle. (FOX 13 Seattle)

While we may see a break in the heavy rain overnight, it will ramp back up again by Sunday afternoon. The danger of avalanches is high in the backcountry: experts warn against doing backcountry skiing and snowboarding this weekend in many places over the Cascades and Olympics! Head to the Northwest Avalanche Center for more details on the Avalanche Warning in effect.

Another round of rain heading our way on Sunday.

Rounds of rain will continue on Sunday with some moderate to heavy rain possible.

On the heels of the wet weekend, Western Washington is bracing for a potential high wind event on Monday. A Weather Alert Day has been issued by the FOX13 Weather Team as we are tracking winds that could be gusting well over 50 mph at times. Stay tuned for the latest on this forecast as we continue to monitor it in the coming days.