An atmospheric river will dump several inches of rain on Northern California through Tuesday, after several other moisture-laden storms have battered the state in the past week.
The incoming storm is reminiscent of the deluge of rainfall that wiped out California’s drought last winter, when more than a dozen atmospheric rivers pummeled the state. A slew of back-to-back storms have hit the Pacific Northwest since last week, dumping several inches of rain on Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The region will face a third storm with more rain and wind through Tuesday before a return to dry conditions.
Atmospheric rivers are narrow channels in the atmosphere that can carry a large amount of moisture with them.
The first storm brought heavy downpours and strong winds to the Pacific Northwest region last Wednesday and Thursday. It was quickly followed by a second storm hitting the same area on Friday and Saturday.
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A third storm is now battering the region, extending from northern Washington south to California. Heavy rains are forecast through Tuesday.
The storms have centered on Washington and Oregon, with the Olympic Mountains and the Cascades taking the brunt of the rainfall. However, the storms have crept into Northern California as well. AccuWeather predicts between 4 to 8 inches of rain in the upper northeast pocket of the state, with lesser totals stretching further west and as far south as San Francisco.
The deluge is not only impressive but also good news for the area, AccuWeather meteorologist Joseph Bauer told Newsweek.
“It’s a very beneficial event,” he said. “There are two storms that moved across the Pacific over late last week and over the weekend, and moisture associated with those two storms plowed into the Northwest all the way into Northern California over the weekend.”
A third storm is underway, bringing “very beneficial rains” to the area, according to Bauer. “There have been some impressive totals,” he said.
AccuWeather predicted that the total rainfall from the three storms is expected to reach an average of 8 to 12 inches across the Olympics, Cascades and the Coast Ranges. Local measurements could reach up to 15 inches.
As of Monday, the drought in California has been completely eradicated after an abnormally wet winter and several storms throughout the spring and summer, including Tropical Storm Hilary, that saturated the parched state.
The most updated U.S. Drought Monitor Map showed that California was completely free from drought, with less than 6 percent of the state experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions. It is the first time California has been completely drought-free in more than three years.
The “abnormally dry” parts of California are in the north and the southeast. Bauer said the back-to-back storms will help ease the dry areas in the north.
Dry weather is predicted to return on Wednesday.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.