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So it rained here Friday. Big Deal. It rains in Seattle in December.
Well, it so happens that Northwest rain is usually drizzly and mild, like the rest of the weather here. 100mm downpour days are fairly common in the Eastern Mediterranean where I come from, and in other hot climate regions — but not here.
In fact, only one day above 100mm in the modern recordkeeping. It happened when we were already here — October 2003 — but we were too new to notice how unusual it was.
Anyway, Friday we got close. Just before the calendar prefix-change, Seattle’s rainiest day of the 2010s squeezed in. It’s also the 5th rainiest overall in 70+ years of records, and the darkest day in 20 years of measuring that metric.
How rainy? The official Seatac airport gauge caught 82.55mm (3.25” for you `Muricans).
A few more pics below the fold.
The official name for Pineapple Express is Atmospheric River (AR). I’d say both are fairly dramatic, but the former is of course more fun to use, and is also more specific to what we get here on the West Coast because it starts right around Hawaii. Apparently AR has grades to it like hurricanes (from 1 to 5), and this one was forecast to reach up to 4 at its peak in Oregon. But it seems to have veered north so Washington got hit worst. Closer to the ocean got even more rain than Seattle.
Seattle is completely missing from the Oregon-centric tweet below. To maintain the peace between the regional rivals, a landslide intervened and stopped Seattle-Portland train traffic for the weekend.
xHow appropriate! The big "winner" for heaviest rainfall from our #AtmosphericRiver so far is a town named Pluvius! They have received nearly a FOOT of rain since Thursday morning. Flood warnings and advisories remain in effect this morning near the Willapa Hills. #wawx#orwxpic.twitter.com/xBJkWndz4b
— NWS Portland (@NWSPortland) December 21, 2019
I’ve always been curious how high our creek can go under heavy rain. Lila and I started walking the Kingfisher Natural Area in spring 2011, so Friday was *the* biggest opportunity thus far. Fortunately I worked from home and was tasked with the walk anyway. I waited for a lull but rain just got worse. So miserable as it was, we buckled up and went out.
OH, ALMOST FORGOT TO ADD!
Lila was overdue for a bath. Months overdue. Rain fixed it for us. By the time we returned home she was a very miserable, but mostly clean dog.