The National Weather Service in Seattle issued a Flood Warning late Saturday night, November 14, for the Skokomish River at Potlatch in Mason County, Washington, warning that heavy rain along the south slopes of the Olympic Mountains overnight will push the river above flood stage on Sunday morning. The warning, issued at 9:58 p.m. Pacific time, says minor flooding is forecast, with the warning in effect from late Saturday night through Monday afternoon.

Source: National Weather Service Seattle — Flood Warning, Nov 14, 2026

Forecasters expect the river to rise above flood stage late Saturday night, crest at 17.1 feet late Sunday morning, and then fall back below flood stage early Monday morning. At 9:30 p.m. on Saturday the gauge at Potlatch already read 16.0 feet, and the river was still rising as the heaviest rain moved across the southern Olympics.

Valley roads and pasture land first in the firing line

The Weather Service spells out exactly what happens as the water climbs: at 16.5 feet, the Skokomish River will cause widespread flooding of pasture lands in the Skokomish Valley, with water flowing quickly over West Bourgault Road and Skokomish Valley Road. Those two valley roads are the routes residents, farm vehicles and delivery drivers use along the river, and fast-moving water over a road surface is precisely the hazard the warning is built around.

The warning follows a Flood Watch that the Weather Service had in effect for Mason County, including the county seat of Shelton, through Sunday morning. Forecasters called for two to four inches of rain on the south slopes of the Olympics through Sunday morning, with snow levels of 5,000 to 6,000 feet — high enough that the rain runs straight off the slopes into the river instead of being held back as snow. That combination of heavy rain and relatively high snow levels is what forecasters said could push the Skokomish near Potlatch above flood stage.

Source: National Weather Service Seattle — Flood Watch, Nov 14, 2026

One river of concern in a wet, windy weekend

The flood threat is part of a strong frontal system moving across western Washington late Saturday into Sunday, bringing steadier rain and gusty winds. In its Saturday evening forecast discussion, the Weather Service's Seattle office said the potential for flooding continues on the Skokomish River with another round of steadier rainfall overnight into early Sunday — and, just as importantly for the rest of the region, that river flooding is not expected on the other rivers in its forecast area over the next seven days. The same system has kept storm warnings up on Washington's coastal waters and a wind advisory on parts of the coast into early Sunday.

Source: National Weather Service Seattle — Area Forecast Discussion, Nov 14, 2026

The Skokomish is a short, steep river that drains the southeastern Olympic Mountains and empties into Hood Canal near Potlatch, and its valley floor is largely pasture and farmland threaded by the two roads the warning names. Because the basin is small and the slopes above it are steep, the river responds quickly to a single night of heavy rain — which is why a gauge reading of 16.0 feet on Saturday evening can become a 17.1-foot crest by late Sunday morning. The Weather Prediction Center had flagged a marginal risk of excessive rainfall over the Olympic Peninsula for Saturday, with an additional one to three inches, locally higher, expected before the cold front passed.

For readers in Washington's Punjabi community — many of whom drive trucks and delivery routes across the Puget Sound region — the practical point is that this warning is narrow and specific. It covers the Skokomish River at Potlatch and the Mason County valley roads around it; it does not cover the Interstate 5 corridor through Olympia and Tacoma, and forecasters expect no flooding on the region's other rivers this week. Anyone with family, farm deliveries or property in the Skokomish Valley and the Shelton area, however, should treat Sunday morning's crest as a real deadline and keep off flooded valley roads.

What happens next

The river is forecast to crest at 17.1 feet late Sunday morning and fall below flood stage early Monday morning, with the Flood Warning formally running through Monday afternoon to cover the slow fall. The Weather Service said its next statement on the flooding will be issued at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time on Sunday, and residents in the valley should monitor updated forecasts through the weekend as rain totals come in.