Neutral weather season could mean Pineapple Express

Be ready for anything. That’s the advice from weather experts as the Western Washington flood season gets underway.

Forecasters often warn of El Nino or La Nina, but this year is a neutral year, according to Ted Buehner, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle. That means the moist and tropical “Pineapple Express” jet stream typically comes into play.

“It’s kind of like holding a garden hose at full throttle about 3 or 4 feet from the end. The jet stream, which is the garden hose, kind of goes up and down the West Coast and back and forth, so it’s very variable with regards to what kind of weather we can get during a neutral year.”

The typical Western Washington flood season starts now and lasts into March.

The region just wrapped up an unusually long stretch of dry October weather. Forecasters say a season of wet weather, even flooding could follow. King County flood watchers are asking residents to pay attention to flood warnings and prepare now for high water.

The city of Pacific is getting some flood-prevention help this year.

Heavy gravel and sediment buildup in the White River has the Army Corps of Engineers worried about flood waters topping levees. In conjunction with King County, they’ll install emergency barriers along three sections of the White River at Pacific, which sustained severe flooding a few years back after a storm forced the release of water from Mud Mountain Dam.