I got a call at work today from the National Weather Service and they told me that there is a flood warning for the entire Olympic Peninsula and Skagit county starting Monday evening lasting through Thursday Morning.

They told me that this is the most seriouse warning they have given out in years if that means anything.

They call for possible seriouse flash flooding.

Could be the 50 or 100 year storm.

thats scary, cant wait to see what happens

time to move the mobile home up the hill.

You guys crack me up. First it's too dry so you wanna re-channel creeks to help the poor salmon. Whatcha gunna do now that it's too wet. Build some dams? Maybe put out some nets to keep the poor spawners from washing down river? Gotta keep them nutrients in da river.

Get a clue! Weather comes and weather goes round and round and nobody knows what the heck it'll be like a week from now. One thing is certain! It would not be normal for the weather to conform to what ever might be average. It gets hot or cold or wet or dry or windy or calm and the tides come in and go out again endlessly over and over again.

The said warning is a non-event - It's a watch! ------------

Here! You can read it below:

...A FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR RIVERS ON THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA FOR
MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES ARE
AFFECTED...

CLALLAM.
JEFFERSON.
GRAYS HARBOR.
MASON.

...ALSO...THE LOWER SKAGIT RIVER IS OF CONCERN IN THE AREA AROUND
MOUNT VERNON IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...

SKAGIT.
$$

.RAIN WILL FALL...HEAVY AT TIMES...OVER THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS AND
NORTH CASCADES BEGINNING MONDAY MORNING AND CONTINUING INTO TUESDAY.
A STRONG WEATHER SYSTEM WITH TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL RAISE FREEZING
LEVELS ABOVE 6000 FEET. STRONG WESTERLY FLOW WILL GIVE ADDED LIFT TO
THE MOIST AIR AND CAUSE THE HEAVIEST RAIN ON THE WINDWARD SLOPES OF
THE OLYMPICS AND NORTH CASCADES.

RIVER FLOODING COULD BEGIN AS EARLY AS LATE MONDAY NIGHT. THE RIVERS
WITHIN THE FLOOD WATCH AREA THAT FACE THE GREATEST THREAT OF FLOODING
INCLUDE THE SKOKOMISH...SATSOP...AND ELWHA. OTHER RIVERS ON THE
OLYMPIC PENINSULA...WITHOUT FORMAL FORECAST POINTS...COULD ALSO RISE
OUT OF THEIR BANKS AND CAUSE LOCAL FLOODING PROBLEMS.

IN ADDITION...THE SKAGIT RIVER NEAR MOUNT VERNON IS OF CONCERN. IT IS
UNLIKELY THE RIVER WILL RISE TO ITS FLOOD STAGE OF 28 FEET
THERE...BUT IT COULD RISE TO 22 OR 23 FEET. BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION IN
THE AREA WOULD BE AFFECTED BY A RIVER RISE TO 22 FEET.

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT FLOODING IS POSSIBLE...BUT NOT CERTAIN.

Hey PUNKER,

This is a discussion about the rain to come. who cares what has happened in the last couple months as far as rain goes. If you don't think it's gonna hurt the redds, fine and thank you for your input. But as far as telling everyone to get a clue, you are WAY outta line. Now go lay down by your dish and and let the adults talk.

Hey Nebb...

As I read it its a discussion about the rain that is 'forecast' to come. How many more times will we have to watch Danger Boy Jim Foreman say 'STORM WATCH!!' only have a light shower? My guess is at least five or ten per year. After a while its easy to become jaded by weather forecasts. I'll start taking the storm seriously when the NWS issues a flood warning as opposed to a watch....

Plunker suggested you get a clue, not that you are a dog. How on the one hand can you call names and on the other suggest there is an adult conversation taking place?

Never trust mother nature. We are going to get a lot of rain out of this one.

We have been getting hard sustained rain all day long. If it keeps up it will flood.

The Quileute Floods once almost every year but not ushually this early. This is the kind of weather that does it though.

I don't know what you all are talking about. I live in Marysville and I haven't seen a drop of rain all day,but it sure has been getting dark out. Maybe the reason of getting dark is that the day is winding down.

Perhaps if Plunker's posting style weren't as condescending and abrasive, defensive responses wouldn't be the expected result?

No argument from me on that one 4salt, it really goes without saying.

I just think there is a difference between suggesting someone isn't thinking the problem all the way through (or might be hitting the panic button prematurely)and namecalling, no matter how thinly veiled or 'softened' with emoticons it is.

My .02 is all...

as of 4 pm Mon. the Skagit river at Concrete was 11 ft. below flood stage and pretty decent fishing,minor rain for this area

In the last 12 hours, we've had well in excess of 2 inches at Quillayute and surely more up in the hills ... things are rising quite fast at the moment and it isn't letting up.

Yes, plunk, the fished have faced this for thousands of years ... life under MSY for a mere fraction of the timeframe ... it's not the same!

The forecast has backed off the extremely huge amounts some, so we'll hope the redds will stay intact through this one ... but even a little bit ago, the word had it was the heaviest was still coming!

Wow, check out the Hoh water level. 32,000 cfs... thats alot of water. Hope those kings have dug in deep to lay their eggs!

Good advice 4Salt - You kinda made me feel like the professor avatar I saw somewhere. The "chicken little" alarmist nature of the original post must have "rubbed" me the wrong way.

BTW - Here's the "peak streamflow" statistics in "cubic feet per second" for the Hoh River over a period of 42 years including the most recent.

Date of Record - Flow(cfs)
Nov. 24, 1990 - 54,500
Dec. 17, 1979 - 51,600
Dec. 26, 1980 - 51,100
Oct. 16, 1988 - 49,300
Nov. 23, 1986 - 48,600
Dec. 03, 1982 - 47,900
Nov. 29, 1995 - 47,600
Jan. 15, 1961 - 46,000
Nov. 20, 1962 - 45,400
Nov. 01, 1977 - 44,800
Mar. 19, 1997 - 44,500
Nov. 15, 1983 - 42,000
Jan. 18, 1986 - 41,700
Dec. 15, 1999 - 41,400
Dec. 04, 1975 - 41,200
Dec. 04, 1989 - 40,600
Dec. 26, 1972 - 35,400
Dec. 13, 1998 - 34,800
Dec. 20, 1994 - 34,600
Nov. 19, 2002 - 33,300
Mar. 05, 1972 - 32,400
Jan. 24, 1982 - 32,100
Jan. 19, 1968 - 31,700
Dec. 10, 1993 - 31,700
Jan. 16, 1974 - 31,200
Dec. 13, 1966 - 30,100
Jan. 23, 1992 - 29,000
Oct. 30, 1997 - 28,400
Dec. 21, 1974 - 27,600
Oct. 21, 1963 - 26,500
Jan. 25, 1993 - 25,700
Nov. 30, 1964 - 24,300
Jan. 14, 1988 - 23,400
Jan. 04, 1969 - 22,200
Nov. 03, 1984 - 20,900
Dec. 07, 1970 - 20,200
Jan. 13, 1966 - 19,900
Apr. 09, 1970 - 19,800
Mar. 04, 1979 - 16,500
Jan. 05, 2001 - 16,100
Jan. 03, 1962 - 15,900
Jan. 18, 1977 - 11,700

33,000 in the Hoh is more than ample flow to change the course of the river in many places, especially in the lower end, It's also important to note that nearly all of this rise was due to rainfall and almost no snowmelt ... that means that the flow would have also seen significant increases with the addition of water in lower tribs below the metering station at 101 ... water that never made it to the gauge itself.

Also notice that none of these higher water readings occurred anytime in the fall / early winter of 1987, the only other time water levels were similar to what we saw this fall.

With the majority of king beds having been found in main channel in the mile or so above tidewater ... there's going to be a number of them that didn't make it.

Is it the total end of the world? Probably not, BUT in a year where the kings faced a lot of adversity, this will certainly have an impact. It's already been documented by surveyors that a number of the kings died even before they had the opportunity to spawn. It's just another example of why living "on the edge" when it comes to management is not in the best interest of the fish.

PS - I believe the storm total for Forks is now 7.38 inches, Humptulips 8.19 inches.