Historic flooding in December 2025 placed Washington state in the middle of a statewide crisis, with impacts ongoing and damage assessments still underway as of December 17. Prolonged heavy rainfall has inundated communities, damaged levees and transportation infrastructure, and forced large-scale evacuations across multiple counties. At least one person died after driving into deep floodwaters.
A levee breach along the White River prompted evacuation orders and Flash Flood Warning for the city of Pacific on December 16, 2025.
A series of atmospheric rivers are forecast to continue impacting the Pacific Northwest and spread southward into California through late December. Moderate risks of heavy precipitation, snow, and high winds are forecast across the West Coast between December 20 and 26, 2025.
Historic flooding caused by a major atmospheric river earlier this week impacted large parts of western Washington state, prompting evacuations, emergency declarations, and record river levels. As impacts from that event persist, another strong atmospheric river is forecast to reach the Pacific Northwest on Sunday, December 14, 2025, bringing a prolonged period of precipitation to Washington, Oregon, and northern California through mid-week.
A surge of Arctic air is forecast to move south from the Northern High Plains on Friday, December 12, 2025, driving near-record lows and dangerous wind chills across the Northern Plains and Mid-South through the weekend.
Residents along the Skagit River in Washington have been ordered to evacuate as the river is forecast to reach 13.55 m (44.47 feet) by late December 11, 2025. Heavy rainfall and rising rivers have led to emergency declarations across Washington State.
A major atmospheric river is producing very heavy precipitation across western Washington today into early December 11, 2025, triggering widespread and potentially historic riverine flooding, according to the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E). Forecasts indicate 130–200 mm (5–8 inches) of rain over the central and northern Washington Cascades and 75–130 mm (3–5 inches) over the Olympic Peninsula through 04:00 PST (12:00 UTC) on December 12. CW3E modeling shows 15 river gauges expected to exceed major flood stage and four to surpass record levels within 48 hours.
At least 23 people have been reported injured due to the major M7.6 earthquake that struck Japan on December 8, 2025, prompting over 90 000 evacuations and alert for a potential mega quake.
A major earthquake registered by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and USGS as M7.6 struck off the east coast of Aomori Prefecture, Japan, at 14:15 UTC (23:15 JST) on December 8, 2025. Both agencies are reporting a depth of 50 km (31 miles). According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), hazardous tsunami waves are possible within 1 000 km (620 miles) of the epicenter.
Flood watches and warnings were issued across western Oregon and Washington on December 7, 2025, valid through December 12, as strong atmospheric river produces sustained rainfall, rising river levels and increasing landslide risk.
