An unusual “river of rain” that began pummeling California early Sunday morning causing major flooding and landslides will affect Ohio weather this week, but not with rain. If you’re planning anything outside, it will be spring-like.
The plume of moisture that extends from Hawaii to California − some 2,500 miles − is known as the “Pineapple Express,” and is considered an “Atmospheric River,” said Ben Gelber, WCMH (Channel 4) meteorologist.
In recent years, the phenomenon has dumped heavy rain from the Gulf of Mexico into the Midwest.
And even though weather systems typically follow the jet stream from west to east, California’s deluge will not migrate eastward beyond the West Coast, said Gelber.
Instead, Ohio will see unseasonably mild weather this week, much like Sunday, due to the massive storm.
“The indirect affect on our weather downstream is that the flow tilts the jet stream far to the north across central Canada, placing our part of the county under a bubble of high pressure and unseasonably mild air that will linger through the week,” Gelber emailed The Dispatch.