To the naked eye this ribbon may be no more than a sea of wispy clouds, disguising an atmospheric river that carries 25 Mississippi Rivers worth of water vapour – and it’s headed for B.C.’s south coast. Sometimes known as a Pineapple Express, atmospheric rivers carry moisture from the tropics and subtropics toward the poles and they are fundamental to the Earth’s water cycle. In California, close to half of the state’s annual precipitation can come from atmospheric rivers. In February, an atmospheric river unleashed a torrent of rain on northern California. Waliser and his co-authors published a study last spring that said climate change will make atmospheric rivers a lot bigger.

Source: thestar May 30, 2019 13:51 UTC