Brain Post: Atmospheric Rivers—Nature’s Moisture Conveyor Belt A powerful force flows invisibly over the Pacific—a conveyor belt of moisture that meteorologists call an atmospheric river (or AR for short). These moisture bands transport enormous quantities of water vapor, crucial for precipitation—and snowfall—along the West Coast. Atmospheric rivers funnel this moisture from the tropics, like a fire hose aimed at western North America. When they land, they often […] Weather Clay Malott | November 12, 2024 0 Comments
Atmospheric Rivers: How They Work, and How El Niño and La Niña Affect Them This article was originally published on climate.gov When rivers reach the sky Guest co-author Dr. Kai-Chih Tseng is a postdoctoral research scientist at Princeton University and the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory who is an expert on climate variability and prediction, including the study of atmospheric rivers. In the summer of 2022, Dr. Tseng will begin an assistant professor position in the Department of Atmospheric […] Weather WeatherBrains | January 5, 2023 0 Comments
A Look at What California Storms Will Look Like In the Near Future California storms will start to look a little different in a warmer climate. For those living in West Coast states probably already know the term atmospheric river (AR events), but for a lot, this term might be new. Here is NOAA’s definition of an atmospheric river: Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in […] Weather Ryan Flynn | July 24, 2020 0 Comments
Where Did the Atmospheric Rivers that Brought all that March Snow to California Originate? Turns Out there’s Somebody who Tracks that These last few months it seems like we’ve constantly been told about more and more ‘atmospheric rivers‘, the likes of which brought feet and feet of snow to California in March, followed by torrential rain in April. Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes tracks atmospheric river storms every year, and have compiled totals for this […] Weather WeatherBrains | May 4, 2018 0 Comments
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