Seattle

Get those waterproof jackets out of the closet: Rain, rain and more rain is on the way this week.

Heavy precipitation is expected in the Seattle area from Sunday evening into Wednesday morning, with up to an inch of total rainfall projected.

A “parade of systems” will roll through Western Washington, bringing with them the most rain we’ve seen since the spring, National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Michalski said.

“This is a pattern change compared to the dry, mild, sunny weather we had last week,” Michalski said. “This week’s a different story with more fall-like weather.”

High temperatures are forecast in the low 60s most days this week — about five degrees lower than average for late September.

Seattle also will see heavy winds and a chance of thunderstorms from Sunday night into Tuesday.

The rain could cause ponding on roadways or minor urban flooding, especially if storm drains aren’t clear, Michalski said. Rivers will rise but aren’t expected to flood.

The rain could bring some relief to a region that’s experienced a drier than usual summer. Last week, Seattle Public Utilities issued a rare plea that customers use less water as Washington sinks deeper into drought.

The watersheds that feed SPU reservoirs typically see as many as 26 inches of rain between May and September, said Alex Chen, director of SPU’s drinking water division. This year they’ve seen 7 or 8 inches.

Nearly 10% of the state is in “extreme” drought and more than 43% is experiencing “severe drought,” according to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Around 1,500 City of Seattle employees rallied for an equitable contract and marched from City Hall to Westlake. One year in and we are still waiting for the City to offer a COLA that isn’t an effective pay cut. #unionstrong

[City Workers Rally Their Asses Off

After a Year at the Bargaining Table, the City Is Still Only Offering Workers a Pay Cut ](url)

Archived link: https://archive.ph/04wlq

In case you missed it.

“Follow the money” helps us figure this out. Inpatient hospital beds generate two bills: facility fees and professional fees. In most public hospitals, both go to support the whole operation. But not at UW Medicine, which operates a separate company, UW Physicians (aka Association of University Physicians), that uses the professional fees to pay bonuses to physician leadership, doubling and tripling (the former dean) their State-paid compensation to over $1 million annually for several. So a Harborview neurosurgeon earning $657,000 in his State paycheck collected another $430,000 from the private company, as well as $127,000 in “other compensation.” Altogether, 831 UW Medicine leaders earn at least $100,000 each extra from this company that collects, then redistributes professional fees paid for subspecialty surgery and intensive care on mostly private insurance patients.

Nice to see our local video store get national news…