WeatherWatcher: Special Weather statement regarding shallow landslide risk

Vulnerable areas are those with almost vertical slopes.
This is the slide that took out the road from Pt. Wells to Woodway

The National Weather Service in Seattle issued a special weather statement regarding shallow landslides. Please note that this is not a warning or advisory, it is simply informational.

Due to higher than normal rainfall this week and the expected continued moderate rainfall into the weekend and next week, soils will become near full saturation. This saturation is causing the USGS landslide threshold to be exceeded from background risk into the low risk level of rain-induced shallow landslides for the area.

Places that are at this low risk in our area are in the watersheds of Lake Forest Park and the bluffs above Bothell Way and along the Puget Sound shoreline.

Bottom line: This is not a warning, watch or advisory. The likelihood of any landslide in our area is still very low. The risk has been elevated to just slightly above the background level due to our higher than normal precipitation this week.