The Pacific Northwest has been bearing the brunt of El Nino so far this December. The windward sides of the Cascades and the Olympic Mountains have been socked in with uncanny amounts of precipitation. Rain (not snow) has been measured in feet along the western faces of the mountains. To be fair, the western face of the Olympic Mountains is actually a temperate rain forest, getting around 200 inches of rain a year on average. But over the past week and a half alone, more than three feet of rain has fallen. The forecast is for more of the same this weekend. Another one to two feet of rain is likely. At elevations high enough for snow, snow amounts are incredible. The National Weather Service for Mt. Rainier has been calling for one to four feet of snow a day, day after day. The Jet Stream is expected to shift, bringing drier weather this week.
