Northwest floods offer sneak peek of hotter climate's toll

Northwest floods offer sneak peek of hotter climate's toll John Ryan December 11, 2025 / 5:57 pm

Climate scientists say December’s back-to-back atmospheric rivers and extreme flooding offer a sneak peek into our warmer future.

The ocean-crossing storms known as atmospheric rivers are nothing new: They deliver precipitation up and down the West Coast every winter and are the source of close to half of Western Washington and Western Oregon’s precipitation from November to April. But climate scientists expect them to grow more powerful, arrive more frequently, and last longer as Earth’s climate keeps warming.

“The science is clear that floods are going to become larger and more frequent in the future,” Washington State Climatologist Guillaume Mauger said.

About 78,000 people have b