When will the rain stop in Tri-Cities? Here’s how much has fallen
The Tri-Cities has been drenched with close to half an inch of precipitation, most of it as rain, in the first five days of this month in an area that usually gets three-quarters of an inch for the entire month of December.
But some drier weather is in the forecast, according to the National Weather Service.
While the precipitation so far this month has been substantial for Tri-Cities, it’s light compared to the west side of the state, which has been hit with an atmospheric river, sometimes called a Pineapple Express.
At the Seattle-Tacoma Airport just over 5 inches of rain been recorded in the first five days of December. That’s about 4 inches more than normal for the start of the month.
But atmospheric rivers are typically wrung out by the time they get across the Cascade Mountains.
Most of the 0.45 inch of precipitation so far this month in the Tri-Cities fell on Sunday, with 0.29 inch of rain recorded that day as a warm front rolled across the area, according to the weather service.
More rain was forecast for Wednesday as a weather system passes to the south of the Tri-Cities, possibly dropping as much as a tenth to a quarter inch of rain, said the weather service.
Tri-Cities forecast
But the rain should start to taper off on Thursday. A 40% chance of rain is forecast dropping to 30% Thursday night.
Tri-Cities residents can enjoy a day of sunshine Friday, and a frosty Friday night, before rain returns with another warm front on Saturday.
Sunday and the start of the work week should be mostly dry, but cloudy.
Highs that have been in the 50s will be cooling to the high 30s at the start of the coming work week, according to the weather service forecast.
The Yakima River will be rising due to precipitation and snow melt in the East Cascade Mountains, but the river should crest well below flood stage near the Tri-Cities.
The weather service forecasts an increase from 4.3 feet Wednesday at noon to nearly 7.4 feet at noon Friday at the gauge nearest to the Tri-Cities at Kiona. Minor flooding starts at 13 feet.
This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 12:55 PM.