EVERETT — Six or more inches of rain, whipped by gusts up to 55 mph, are in the forecast for the lowlands in Snohomish County, in a storm that could last most of next week.
The most intense blast — roughly 3½ inches of rainfall in Darrington and an inch in Everett — was expected Monday. The Snohomish River in Snohomish was expected to crest within a few inches of “major” flood stage late Tuesday into Wednesday.
Other rivers and areas that commonly flood could spill over their banks as well.
Live river conditions and road closures can be found at Snohomish County’s flood safety hub.
The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory from 11 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday. It included Everett, Monroe, Lynnwood, Marysville and Edmonds. The weather service also issued a flood watch for much of Western Washington, including Island and Snohomish counties.
The flood watch expires late Wednesday.
“An active weather pattern will continue with a series of frontal systems set to move across the Pacific Northwest through the middle of next week,” the weather service advisory reads. “Multiple rounds of rain and mountain snow with increasing intensity are likely through early next week with snow levels rising rapidly Sunday and continuing to rise Monday. Prolonged heavy rainfall will lead to rapid rises on rivers Sunday into early next week, especially when combined with melting snow.”
The heavy rainfall is coming from a lengthy atmospheric river. Rain could total 7 inches in the lowlands over the course of the week. The Cascades will likely see several feet of snow at places like Stevens Pass.
Extensive street flooding is possible in the lowlands.
Meteorologists were predicting flooding near Monroe, with the Snohomish River was expected to crest at “moderate” flood stage, bordering on major flooding, in the middle of the week. Depending on the whims of the weather, that could easily change.
The county’s emergency management department urged caution.
“If people live in floodplains or if they are planning to travel in those areas, they should be prepared for the possibility of encountering high water,” said Scott North, spokesperson for the Snohomish County Department of Emergency.
North added there is concern about avalanches as well. The rainfall could melt snow. The Northwest Avalanche Center had all of the Cascades under a Level 2 “Moderate” avalanche danger advisory. There are four levels, with Level 4 as the most concerning.
“It’s not a good time to be up on the steep slopes this weekend,” North said.
Sultan Mayor Russell Wiita said the city was monitoring water levels.
The predictions “shouldn’t put water on to 1st Street in Sultan but we will continue to monitor both the forecasts and on the ground river levels,” Wiita wrote in an email.
He added that if water levels do look like they will submerge parts of Sultan, sandbags will be deployed. He urged locals to watch the city’s social media for more information.
In Snohomish, city spokesperson Shari Ireton also said officials would be monitoring through the weekend.
An “all hands” call was going out on Friday ahead of the windstorm, Snohomish County Public Utility District spokesperson Aaron Swaney said. Crews will congregate at sites across the county and go out to restore power as soon as conditions are safe enough, he said.
“When we see a storm like this coming in, we put out the all-hands call out. Crews come in, gather in our offices and gather all their gear,” Swaney said. “That’s the biggest thing, so that when outages start to happen, they’re not preparing for them, they’re already prepared. They can just hit the road and go.”
Swaney noted it helps that trees have already shed most of their leaves, as heavy wet foliage doesn’t mix well with utility lines.
He also said residents should get a head start by charging up cell phones and rechargeable batteries.
“Anything you can do to get ahead of this to make sure you have power, make sure you do it,” Swaney said. “After the storm, if you have a generator, make sure that’s ready to go. And I’d also say to make sure that if you do lose power, add it to our outage map and report it there.”
The link to the outage map is outagemap.snopud.com. Reports can also be made via phone at 425-783-1001. If it’s an emergency, dial 911.
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.
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