Atmospheric River Aims at the Northwest

High pressure is calling the shots, once again, out west. That's going to bring searing heat to parts of California and Arizona, but it's helping doing something else: soak Seattle.

A stubborn area of high pressure is going to sit on top of the West Coast for the remainder of the week. That will help pump more tropical moisture up and over it, focusing it along the Pacific Northwest (above). That will bring rounds of rain, sometimes heavy, to areas surrounding Seattle. Rounds of rain will add up to multiple inches of rainfall, even into the Cascades. Flood watches cover the area until Friday.

The threat of rain will be persistent, soaking many plans for the rest of the week. Notice that most of this is coming down in the liquid form, with very high snow levels. That could help melt additional snow, leading to runoff issues in some of the area creeks and streams.