Pineapple Express: Weather Expert’s Insight on Impact in Washington

What Is A Pineapple Express And How Does It Affect Us In Washington State?

We are getting lots of rain this week and we are seeing some warming temperatures in Washington State over the next week.

Do You Realize That 1996 Was One Of The Worst Years For Flooding In WA State?

The biggest fear is flooding so I reached out to our weather expert Mark Ingalls to give us a snapshot of what these weather changes mean for the Tri-Cities and Washington State.

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Ingalls runs the Facebook page Tri-Cities Weather and he gives us some insight into the current weather conditions:

"A lot of rain is coming into the Pacific Northwest as the storm track aims at the region for several days."

"Thankfully we won’t have regional flooding like in 1996, which produced heavy rain on top of heavy snow and frozen ground. Still, some flooding on smaller rivers is possible."

"This kind of tracks with what we’ve seen so far this wet season. November started quite wet before drying out during the second half of the month."

Early in the week, temperatures will be warm as the moisture plume is sourced from around Hawaii, a type of atmospheric river called a Pineapple Express.

"The storm track will tilt later this week allowing temperatures to cool and snow to build back up in the mid-elevation zone of the Cascades and Blue Mountains."

In the Tri-Cities, December is on average the wettest month of the year.

You can read more Washington State weather updates from Mark Ingalls here.