Big Rain, Big Snow, Big Wind

The month of November opened with big rain. Nearly 5 inches fell in one day, and November was the wettest month in Seattle recorded history with nearly 16 inches of rain. The pictures (from the Seattle Times) show a Salmon stuggling to swim on a county road, an unplanned house boat, a flooded valley and a flag that's "still there."

The big rains were followed late in November by Big Snow. About 4 inches fell in our neighborhood. While not a lot, the roads were not treated in any way and the temperatures stayed below freezing for two days, so we were sliding home on ice-rink roads for the duration. Finally, the freeze lifted, but one commute was just awful (2 hours+ for 10 miles), when the roads froze over unexpectedly. After the storms, the wet ground created a fog over Seattle.

Finally, yesterday, we were hit by 2 inches of rain right before rush hour, leaving many streets flooded. Later in the night, the winds howled up to 70 mph, leaving trees and power lines down as well as structural damage all over the greater Seattle area. We were left without power all night and into the morning. One large branch fell in the yard (4 in. diameter) but otherwise the house looked to be in good shape. Whew. The pix are from the Seattle Times. While most of the big flood pictures were south of us, the last 4 pix are not at all unlike what we saw.