Rising Waters

The Snoqualmie River is getting into its flood season again. The autumn rains bring the river up over its banks and flood out the low-lying roads near us and many roads and farms built on the floodplain further downstream. Flooding along the river is fairly reliable annual event, and gives the local television news people an excuse to drive out to this neck of the woods where not much else happens.

If you’ve ever wondered when the best time to see Snoqualmie Falls is, this is it. The huge volumes of water coming down river after a heavy rain on the west slopes of the Cascades help make up for the fact that 75% of the river water is diverted into the power generation plant. Compared to the anemic flow during the summer, the falls are quite impressive during the rainy autumn season.