MOUNT VERNON — A break in the rain has dialed back the immediate threat of swollen rivers, but state and federal officials warned tougher days may still be ahead.

“We’re not out of the woods,” said Reid Wolcott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, at a news briefing Saturday in Mount Vernon with Gov. Bob Ferguson and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.

Wolcott and others warned that the current dry spell will give way to another storm system in the next couple days, bringing 4 to 7 inches of rain in the mountains and winds that could reach 50 miles per hour or more and sending river levels back up to flood stages.

While such winds might not normally be a problem, Wolcott noted the ground is already saturated in many areas. “Soils are extremely loose. It does not take 5

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