Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain

[solarbird]

I wasn't sure whether this qualified as a leaf picture, really; ferns don't really have leaves in the sense that I think of them, anyway, they have fronds. But they do change colour, tho' typically not this brightly, so I'm including it.


Harlequin Fern

I think we're up to 24 days of measurable precipitation? That's getting close to a record. The record including trace amounts is something like 99 days, but this pure quantity of rain is kind of special. The winter creek next to our house is on the edge of our property is on the verge of overflowing; the drainage system around the house is flowing about as much as the creek is; the drainage ditches are going all-out; there's standing water from seepage all along the northern end of the driveway - and it all keeps going just like that even when the rain is taking a break... and we live at the top of a hill. (Almost the very top. The property line is the top, the house is down a bit.) Down at 182nd, there's little lakes of standing water everywhere.

Anyway, all that's why there are three (3) weather alerts right now - Flood Watch, Flood Statement, and Special Weather Statement: Oh My God We're All Gonna DieWatch Out for Landslides. (There've already been several; two days of the Sounder's northern interurban run between Seattle and Everett have been cancelled by landslides covering the tracks.)

That's a very long way to say, "gosh, it's wet." But, well, gosh, it's wet. Even for here.

Monday's token: 0.1
Tuesday's token: 0.1
Wednesday's miles: 1.3
Thursday's miles: 2.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 567.6
Miles out of Rivendell: 107.8
Miles to Lothlórien: 358.6

Yesterday, we got a few hours of break from it all, and a few peeks of blue sky after some morning rain. But I missed a photograph opportunity, walking down to the highway and back just to get out of the house; I was almost all the way down to the road when I saw possibly the best sky photograph opportunity I've ever seen.

But I'd left spazzkat's camera at home, and knew I'd never get it and come back on time, so I just watched it and pointed it out to other people passing by, most of whom ignored it, much to their own loss.

Comments

[firni.livejournal.com]

Were you pointing up and shrieking "THE SKY! THE SKY!"

Because people seem to ignore me when *I* do that.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Here's the question mark I forgot in that comment, with interest.

????????????????????

[mattsnaps.livejournal.com]

WTF??????????????????

I just wanted an excuse to model my new icon.

[solarbird]

Ligature ♥!

[mattsnaps.livejournal.com]

I hardly know 'er.

[firni.livejournal.com]

THE SKY! THE SKY!

oh wait it's dark

NEVER MIND

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

The Sammamish River has been looking floody all week. At the park in Woodinville, it's been over the bank for a couple of days, forming a mini-lake at that point. But most places it's still several feet below. The odd thing is that it got to that stage pretty quickly and then has held there, with the new rain just about replacing the water that washes through. There's been more fluctuation with pools of water outside the river; on Tuesday, parts of the trail were a near-isthmus because of flooded fields. That night, I had to cross a couple pretty long patches of four-inch deep water.

The Sammamish River has never had a live flood gauge, though, because it's one of the least likely rivers to flood. It doesn't originate high in the mountains, and Lake Sammamish seems to be able to take a lot of excess capacity from Issaquah Creek before things head downstream. I did find out that the non-real time flood gauge ran out of Army Corps funding on the first of this year.

Still, there are places in Redmond where another heavy overnight rain could bring the river over its banks onto the bike trail. Hopefully, that doesn't happen.

[solarbird]

There has been some flooding by Lake Sam. I heard on the radio this morning that one lakefront apartment or condominium complex (I wasn't sure from context which) had had its ground-level units doing some sandbagging, but that the water had overrun the tops of them. More sand and bags were on their way.

I didn't even think Lake Sammamish really could flood. I'd never even heard of that. it's got such a big waterway to Lake Washington that it just seems bizarre.

I wonder what it'd take to flood Lake Washington. Can that even happen, realistically?

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I don't think Lake Washington could flood, because they've got a hell of a lot of control of the water level at the Ballard locks, and once you get to the sea the excess water disperses pretty fast. The Lake Washington Ship Canal makes a huge difference in getting that out.

Compared to the ship canal, the dredged channel for the Sammamish River is not nearly as much of a waterway. The big surprise is that Lake Sammamish is not distributing the floodwaters upstream from Issaquah Creek enough to prevent a rise in water levels. You'd think with that much surface area that it would take a lot of water to cause a rise in the lake or significant downstream flooding. I guess there's a lot of water. Still, I doubt there's going to be any significant flooding beyond the little we've seen so far. I keep a close eye on it anyway, because I have dark fantasies of dealing with a flood while I'm on my bike commute.