Flood — Pend Oreille, Washington

2012-03-29 to 2012-03-31 · near Tweedie, Pend Oreille, Washington

Event narrative

Numerous roads across Pend Oreille County experienced washouts, floods, or minor damage due to flooding from March 29th-31st. These roads included Deeter (8 NW Newport), Westside Calispell (3 SW Cusick), Rocky Gorge (9 SW Cusick), Rockwood (1 N Diamond Lake), West Telephone (2 SW Diamond Lake), and McCloud (5 SW Bead Lake).

Wider weather episode

A stagnant longwave pattern featuring a broad trough off the Pacific Northwest Coast and upper-level ridge over the Central US resulted in a parade of moist storm systems tracking through the Inland Northwest from March 28th through the 31st. Each storm system deposited 0.25 to 0.75 inches of rainfall across Northeastern Washington with three day rainfall totals ranging from one to three inches. This concluded record setting precipitation totals for the month of March across most sites in Eastern Washington. The heavy rain and excess snow melt resulted in several flooded roadways, road washouts, and small debris flows.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (48.0993, -117.0731)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 368956. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.