SEATTLE — Another king tide was expected to hit Seattle’s South Park neighborhood on Monday.
About 90,000 sandbags were placed in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood by the city in preparation for the third king tide of the season, nearly a month after December’s historic event.
“Those tides between half a foot and a foot and a half higher than what was expected. And the reason why is because we had that lower atmospheric pressure and the winds really helping drive up that water which caused the widespread flooding, some record tides for parts of the area," KING 5 meteorologist Christopher Nunley said in describing last month's king tide.
Nunley and the National Weather Service didn't anticipate South Park would experience the same level of flooding.
"At this point, it looks like we should for most areas stay below that coastal flood advisory criteria which means there's not going to be widespread flooding or inundation from those higher sea levels," said Nunley.
Nunley said minor flooding could occur in some areas, but that conditions should be back to normal by the end of the week.
"Once we get through that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday time frame during the morning high tides we see those tides gradually start to level off,” said Nunley. “So eventually the tides will get a little closer to where they normally should be as the earth and moon get a little bit farther apart."
Despite the optimistic outlook, Nunley still wants people to be prepared for potential flooding, just in case.
"Things can happen, the science is inexact, it's possible the tide could be just slightly higher than what we're currently anticipating and then that could cause more flooding issues than what we are currently expecting at this point," said Nunley.