Weather: Flooding Out West, Intense Cold To The East

There are two big weather patterns making news this week: In the Pacific Northwest, heavy rains have led to landslides, flooding and evacuations.

The Seattle Times reports from Western Washington:

"Enough rain fell from Sunday morning to Monday morning to cause flooding on a dozen rivers throughout the region. While only about an inch fell in Seattle, many areas in the Cascades received more than 6 inches, and rainfall in parts of the Southwest Olympics amounted to13 inches, National Weather Service meteorologist Josh Smith said. ...

"As levels in the Snoqualmie River rose Monday afternoon, the city of Snoqualmie issued evacuation notices for residents of a downtown neighborhood. The river reached a Phase 4 flood stage, meaning some residential areas could experience 'dangerous, high velocities and flooding of homes,' according to the King County Flood Warning Center."

The story as you move is east is intense cold. Much of the Midwest will be dealing with dangerous windchill. The East Coast could see the coldest temperatures of the winter so far.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting's Gary Ellenbolt filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls says there could be readings of 35 to 40 below zero — or even lower in some locations — and those probably won't improve for the next few days.

"Health officials say the cold conditions are nothing to fool with, since exposed flesh can freeze in a very few minutes. The Highway Patrol is urging anyone who has to travel to have a winter survival kit with them, and that should include blankets, a fully-charged cell phone, food and water."

Here's the map the map that tells the story from the National Weather Service:

A map showing low temperatures across the U.S.

National Weather Service