March expected to be wettest on record

How wet has it been in the last two months?

After a relatively dry October through January in Western Washington, the weather pattern got wetter in February and continued into March.

With only half an inch of rain needed, March is almost certainly about to become the wettest month on the record.

Below are some statistics for precipitation through March 23, including its ranking among the all-time wettest March and February/March time periods.

March Location Sea-Tac in 1950 Olympia in 1997 Qullayute in 2007 Hoquiam in 1997 Bellingham in 1950 Sandpoint in 2014

Rain (Rank) 7.71(3) 7.46.(10) 13.13.(14) 11.17(11) 4.54(9) 7.10(2)

Normal 3.72 5.29 10.83 6.99 3.22 3.51

Wettest on record 8.40 11.79 23.24 15.13 7.03 8.81

Feb.-March Sea-Tac in 1972 Olympia in 1999 Qullayute in 1999 Hoquiam in 1961 Bellingham in 1982 Sandpoint in 2014

Rain (rank) 13.82(3) 15.81(7) 23.77(19) 19.19(14) 7.21(19) 12.23(1)

Normal 7.22 10.56 21.18 14.20 6.24 6.82

Wettest on record 14.85 in 1972 22.46 in 1999 40.50 in 1999 28.74 in 1961 13.21 in 1982 12.23 in 2014

KING 5 meteorologist Rich Marriott says that we’re definitely going to get more than a half-inch of rain before March 31, which will make the month record-setting.

“We’re in the middle of a pattern of rain, there might be pauses but there are not stretches where we’re going to be dry and sunny, it looks like,” Marriott told Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross.

This wet period led to saturated soils across Western Washington and also played a role in the tragic Oso slide. Precipitation in the region of the mudslide for February and March has been between 150 and 200 percent of normal.

The National Weather Service in Seattle continues to provide weather and river forecast support as well as other information to Snohomish County Emergency Management and Response teams in the Oso area.

MyNorthwest.com’s Alyssa Kleven contributed to this report.