California’s atmospheric river pushing showers into PNW
Nov 14, 2025, 2:46 PM | Updated: 2:47 pm
A motorist drives in the rain past a sign reading "Possible Mud Flow" as a powerful atmospheric river storm impacts the region. (Photo: Mario Tama, Getty Images)
(Photo: Mario Tama, Getty Images)
An atmospheric river that’s soaking southern California is pushing wet weather up into the Pacific Northwest.
“It is spinning bands of showers north across Oregon and Washington,” said KIRO Newsradio Meteorologist Ted Buehner.
Winds of 10 to 20 miles per hour were forecast for the Puget Sound region Friday into Saturday, with higher winds expected north of Everett.
The main weather system is prompting evacuation warnings and orders in parts of Los Angeles County, where there is concern that rain will soak wildfire burn scars, causing mudslides.
“You’ve got all those areas that burned early this year, back in January, and you throw all that heavy rain on it, so you’re going to have stuff sliding downhill and creating mudslides and things,” Buehner explained. “It’s just a mess.”
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When asked if western Washington was at risk of similar burn scar mudslides, he said, “Maybe for some of the fires east of the Cascade crest, but here in western Washington, I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
In fact, the wet weather appears to be helping put out the Bear Gulch wildfire, which sparked on the Olympic Peninsula on July 6.
“It is still actually smoldering at this point, so the rain’s actually pretty good,” Buehner said.
The Bear Gulch Fire is burning on 20,233 acres but is 100% contained.
Buehner expects the showers to taper off in western Washington over the weekend, as the weather system moves inland across California and into Arizona.
Read more of Heather Bosch’s stories here.
