Atmospheric river hits Western Washington with high winds, heavy rain, and possible flooding

December is off to a busy start in terms of the weather.

Another atmospheric river is moving into Western Washington today. It's expected to bring the heaviest rain Monday evening and into Tuesday. Some of the lowland areas are looking at getting anywhere from 1.5 to 3 inches by Wednesday morning. Coastal areas could get as much as 6 inches by then.

Plus, National Weather Service meteorologist Reid Wolcott said conditions could get "disgusting" in the mountains, with both the Olympics and the Cascades looking at nine to ten inches of rain. That's means a lot of snow at higher elevations will start melting and could cause some rivers to swell.

"We're really concerned about anything from about King County up through about Skagit County. That's where the most significant river flood is going to be," Wolcott said. "But, really, anywhere in Western Washington has rivers that are susceptible to precipitation amounts that we're looking at over the next couple of days."

Most of the region will be under a flood watch until at least Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, crews in the mountains will be keeping an eye out for avalanches.

"We've had some pretty significant avalanche concerns over the weekend," Wolcott said. "Now things are going to be starting to warm up... but our snow levels are also going to rocket up to eight to nine thousand feet."

According to the Northwest Avalanche Center, the danger in the Cascades is high right now, but it's less so for the passes and some of the lower elevations. In any case, Wolcott advised against traveling in the mountains for the time being.

(In case you missed it: The Washington state Department of Transportation has shut down State Route 20, the North Cascades Highway, for the winter.)

If the potential for flooding and avalanches wasn't enough, we're also expecting windy conditions to ramp up today and into this evening, especially near the water.

"Obviously, that can bring power outages and rearrange your Christmas decorations pretty effectively," Wolcott warned.

He said the Seattle metro area can expect gusts between 30 and 40 miles per hour while areas north and along the coast, like Whidbey Island and Bellingham, could get gusts as high as 45 miles per hour.