Satellite imagery captured an atmospheric river pummeling Northern California and the Pacific Northwest on Sunday.
Why It Matters
After a series of back-to-back “rivers in the sky” in December, California hasn’t seen many, which typically plague the state during the winter months.
One such storm arrived in the Pacific Northwest over the weekend. The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Sacramento said its impact will continue to be felt over the next couple days, as residents in the stricken areas can expect heavy rain, snow and the threat of floods.
What To Know
On Monday, the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University shared Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The time-lapse views showed a “prolonged atmospheric river” that brought heavy rain and high-elevation snowfall to the northwestern U.S. over the weekend.
Atmospheric rivers are a “long, narrow region in the atmosphere—like rivers in the sky—that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics,” according to the NOAA…