Improved Forecasts of Powerful "Atmospheric River" Winter Storms
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego and colleagues from NOAA and the California Department of Water Resources are installing the first of four long-term "atmospheric river observatories" in coastal California this month to better monitor and predict the impacts of landfalling atmospheric rivers. These powerful winter systems, sometimes called "pineapple express" storms, can be beneficial, in that they help to fill the state's reservoirs, but they can also cause destructive floods and debris flows.