Storms

If you've been paying attention to the national news, you probably heard about the storms that hit the Northwest earlier in the week. On Saturday it snowed in Seattle, huge airy flakes that danced in the breeze and melted as soon as they hit the ground. Then it turned to rain and we had almost 5" in 24 hours. Things were wet but it was fun to see snow again!

The statistics you read on the news are somewhat sensational. Coastal areas on the Olympic Peninsula (about 100 miles west of Seattle) recorded winds of over 100 mph. Many areas recorded 10+ inches of rain in a 24 hour period. But none of this really caused any major problems. The areas that got battered by wind are used to that sort of thing (at least as much as you can be used it). It's actually not that uncommon. And the areas that got the heaviest rainfall are places that average 200-300" of rain per year.

The only major problem that occurred was a flood 90 miles south of Seattle in the town of Chehalis (cha-HAY-liss), and that was mostly caused by poor suburban planning. A giant, newly constructed (and controversial) strip mall anchored by Wal-Mart was built in a flood plain; apparently they didn't consider what would happen during a heavy rainfall. A bunch of people's houses got flooded, and I-5 is still closed.

Some better laws and intelligent planning (like don't build a strip mall in a swamp next to a flood-prone river) could have prevented the whole thing.