Snoqualmie Overflowing

It's true...Seattle does get a lot of rain. We enjoy mild, dry summers, but come the fall the rain settles in and doesn't let up until Spring. Why do we get so much rain? Its pretty simple. The Cascade Mountain chain lies just East of Seattle. It's great because you only need go a few miles out of town before you are in the mountains, however the proximity of those mountains is the reason for the rain. Moisture that comes off the ocean moves in and gets literally stopped by the Cascade Mountains. The Mountains create what's called a rain shadow. That explains the radically different, much drier terrain just directly East of the Cascades over in eastern Washington. Most of the weather systems coming from the Pacific, hit the high mountains and get stuck, dumping all their moisture over the area around Seattle.

Every now and then we experience a phenomenon called the Pineapple Express. A long sting of storms aim directly at us coming from the warm air down near Hawaii. It's like a fire hose just forcing all of the moisture our way. Usually there is flooding associated with this phenomenon. We had just such an event happen this past week and boy was there flooding.

When the heavy rains come, especially in the mountains, the streams and rivers become swollen until they overflow their banks. That's when we get the low land flooding that forces people from their homes. Last week we had some of that but not as much as in years past. There was however enough water in the rivers to make for quite the spectacle over at Snoqualmie Falls. I finally got a chance to go over and check out the falls this past week.It was quite an experience.

Another View of the Falls, the Salish Lodge is up on the bluff (upper left)

Snoqualmie Falls,

Snoqualmie WA

The beautiful Salish Lodge and Spa overlooks the raging Snoqualmie Falls


Take away the identifying elements
and this could be anywhere in the world.

Taking advantage of a fogged up lens to catch an artful shot.

A close up of the falls reveals the true power of Mother Nature.