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Seattle area, notorious for its wet, overcast days, has logged its rainiest fall season on record after weeks of back-to-back downpours, capping a year of weather whiplash that saw the region endure a record breaking heatwave over the summer.
Between September and the end of November, the Seattle metropolitan area accumulated about 19 in of rain, the largest amount since records began in 1945 and surpassing its previous record chronicled in 2006 by less than an inch, according to Matthew Cullen, meteorologist at the National Weather Service forecast office in Seattle.
The extreme rainy season comes in a year that has seen Seattle and the surrounding area besieged by unusual weather events, including a historic heatwave over the summer.
These whiplash-inducing extremes have left lasting marks on an area known for its moderate weather.
The scorching temperatures, which experts said were exacerbated by global heating, resulted in more than 100 people dead in Washington state, crops destroyed and salmon covered in angry red lesions and white fungus. The dry conditions also left lands vulnerable to fires, which burned in several areas across Washington.
The recent heavy rains caused some road closures in Seattle. But in cities farther north, near the Canadian border, the impact was much greater. In Whatcom county, dozens of roads were closed due to flooding and some residents had to be evacuated. The Lummi Reservation, which is also in that area, was cut off when its roads were overtaken by water.
Nick Bond, state climatologist for Washington, explained that the back-to-back La Ni?a conditions, a climate pattern that can disrupt weather throughout the world, could be causing the rainfall. He said climate change was probably also a factor, since warmer air is able to hold more water vapor compared with cooler air.
The question now is whether these extreme weather conditions could be an indication of what the region will experience in the future.
