ARLINGTON — The Stillaguamish River at Arlington flirted with flood stage Monday afternoon as the National Weather Service issued a flood warning near the city.
The rest of Snohomish County entered a less imminent flood watch through Wednesday morning.
Yet another soggy winter front brewing in the forecast will add to the “one, two punch” wet weather patterns of late have given regional rivers, said Steve Reedy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
Snow melt over the weekend and Monday morning rain gave “our first big push” to water levels.
“Our big concern is with all of that moisture already in place, we have another front moving through later today and early tomorrow,” Reedy told The Herald on Monday.
That front will “slowly trek through the area,” bringing rain and wind on Tuesday. In Everett, forecasts call for 1 to 2 inches of new rain and wind speeds around 35 miles per hour.
The “generally wet conditions” continue Wednesday and Thursday, Reedy said, but should let up by the weekend for a relatively dry New Year’s Eve.
At 2 p.m. on Monday, Reedy said the Stillaguamish River would likely hit flood stage within the hour. He expected water levels to stay high through the night, then wane Tuesday morning.
South at the Snohomish River, water levels remained below flooding but were expected to rise Tuesday with the rain, Reedy said.
He reminded drivers to avoid driving through puddles or standing pools of water in the roadway. They could be deeper than expected.
“The safest thing to do in a situation like that is the old slogan we have in our office: Turn around, don’t drown.”
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