Train of Storms to Slam Northwest US This Week

By Brett Rathbun, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

November 17,2015; 9:45PM,EST

 

 

The latest storm in a series will march across the northwestern U.S. with locally flooding rainfall, mountain snow and potentially damaging winds into Wednesday.
"The onslaught of heavy rain will continue across the Northwest this week," AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Rinde said.

The heaviest of the rain will soak coastal British Columbia, Washington and Oregon through Tuesday night.
While much of the region would enjoy any precipitation it can take due to the significant drought, there has been a large amount of rain that has fallen in a short period of time this month.
Some locations have received nearly the same amount of rain they normally get for the entire month of November in just the first 15 days.
Seattle has received the most rain this month than any calendar month since October 2014. Astoria, Oregon, hasn't gotten more than 12 inches of rain since over 14 inches of rain fell in December of 2012.
The coming pockets of heavy rain can lead to areas of flooding from coastal British Columbia into northern California.
Rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches will fall from the British Columbia coast to the Oregon coast with a general 1 to 3 inches along the Interstate 5 corridor from Medford, Oregon, to the Canadian border and into Vancouver, British Columbia.
"Mudslides are even possible in some valley regions," Rinde said.
Mild air pushing in from the Pacific Ocean has pushed snow levels well above the passes in the Cascades.

Heavy Rain Across the Pacific Northwest

Over 3 inches of rain could fall across portions of the Cascades into Wednesday, leading to flooding concerns.
The warmer air will push well inland as well.
Snow will either change or mix with rain across the Bitterroot Mountains and Rockies of northern Idaho and western Montana.
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While rain will clip the northwest portion of California, an area of high pressure over the Southwest will prevent any significant precipitation to reach the drought areas of Nevada and central and Southern California.
The highest peaks of the Cascades will receive feet of snow by Wednesday morning.

Wind gusts up to 60-80 mph could cause property damage, down trees and lead to power outages.
A cold front will swing through the area during the day on Wednesday as a small area of high pressure will dry things out for a short period of time.
The next storm will approach the Northwest by Thursday.