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2006 Record November Rainfall
11/22/2006  500mb geopotential height anomalies the last 30-days showing the anomalous trough over the Gulf of Alaska that's been producing the rainy weather. After one of the driest summers in state history, record setting rainfall continues to fall throughout western Washington. Early in the month, a slow moving "pineapple express" storm brought heavy rains and mild temperatures causing record setting high river flows, peak river crests, and widespread flooding. One of the places affected by the floods, Mount Rainier National Park, is working to re-open the park as the flooding washed out campgrounds, main roads, and the main power source to two of the park's visitor centers, while creating new channels and shorelines. For further information and amazing photographs of the damage go to: http://www.nps.gov/mora/parknews/images-of-the-flood-of-2006.htm. The state governor's office recently declared 11 Washington counties as federal disaster areas as the damage is still being accessed. Cooler temperatures since then have helped to alleviate the flooding as the rain falls as snow in the mountains. Through November 21, Seattle (as reported from Sea-Tac Airport) has broken the record November rainfall total as well as the record for being the wettest month with 13.11" and Olympia has also broken their record for the wettest November with 16.57". To put things in perspective, Seattle and Olympia have had almost as much rain in the month of November as some of the wettest places on the coast average for November. Forks, annually the wettest place in WA gets an average of 17.72" in November and currently has 22.96" which is above normal for them, but not likely to break any records by the end of the month. The wettest place in the U.S., Mt. Waialeale, HI, on average receives 36.33" in November. See the table below for current November rain totals and records for various locations in the state. There are still 9 days left in the month with no end to the rainfall in sight, which means other locations will likely be breaking records by the end of the month.
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