Parts of Oregon and Washington are experiencing back-to-back atmospheric river events in less than a week. Oregon’s state climatologist says a changing climate will make these types of storms stronger and more frequent.
An atmospheric river, like its name suggests, is essentially a jet stream or “river” of warm moisture in the sky bringing in widespread rain, and sometimes snow, said Larry O’Neill, state climatologist of Oregon.
“Atmospheric rivers are these, sort of the ‘juiciest storms,’” he said. “They’re responsible for about 30% to 50% of our annual precipitation total.”…