I heard this flash flood advisory on the radio earlier today and was thinking how cool it would be to be up in the North Cascades and also how useless this information is since as the advisory says ".. people most likely to be affected may be hiking and deep in the back country of the north Cascades."
I guess if your driving over Highway 20 and have radio reception it might be exciting to know a flash flood might occur somewhere along the route. It's 75 miles of nothing but mountains and forests between Marblemount and Mazama - so it's fairly remote even on the highway up there.
If your backpacking/hiking in the area probably best to just keep an eye on the sky like you would in any area - as it says at the end of the advisory, " Monitor the weather and be ready to act quickly if flooding is observed or a warning is issued."
Not sure how they give the warning.
... Flash Flood Watch in effect until 11 PM PDT this evening for portions
of the north Cascades...
The National Weather Service in Seattle has issued a
* Flash Flood Watch for portions of western Washington...
including the following counties... Skagit... Whatcom ...
Snohomish.
* Until 11 PM PDT this evening
* heavy rainfall associated with slow moving thunderstorms will
continue to train over portions of the north Cascades through
late this evening. Small streams will quickly rise with
excessive rainfall temporarily becoming hazardous. In locations
where storms continue to pass through... localized rainfall
amounts will likely tally over several inches.
* State Route Highway 20 is the major roadway most likely to be
affected by these storms. Due to the rural nature of this
area... people most likely to be affected may be hiking and deep
in the back country of the north Cascades.
Precautionary/preparedness actions...
A Flash Flood Watch means conditions are favorable for flash
flooding but flooding is not imminent or occurring. Monitor the
weather and be ready to act quickly if flooding is observed or a
warning is issued.
Damico
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