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A sign warns of potential flooding in Capitola Village in Capitola, Calif, on Jan 31. Image: AP/Nic Coury
environment

What is an atmospheric river? A hydrologist explains the good and bad of these storms

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By Qian Cao

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I wonder if the massive eruption of the undersea volcano Hunga-Tung Hunga A'apai in May(?) 2022 whuch

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

... which injected a modern record of water into the stratosphere has anything to do with these ARs.

(wish there was an edit feature...)

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Warmer air can hold more moisture. As global temperatures rise in the future, we can expect more intense atmospheric rivers, leading to an increase in heavy and extreme precipitation events.

In the near future, the malignant vicious cycle of rising of the temperature and humidity will not be accompanied by precipitation events any more. The temperature will rise monotonously and steeply until the Earth burns down and the oceans evaporate and converted into steam.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

In the near future, the malignant vicious cycle of rising of the temperature and humidity will not be accompanied by precipitation events any more. The temperature will rise monotonously and steeply until the Earth burns down and the oceans evaporate and converted into steam.

In about 3 billion years. I’m prepping now.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

What are now called "atmospheric rivers" we used to call a "pineapple express" because the storms were driven by a stream of moist air from the central Pacific near Hawaii. We also have something we call a "March miracle", where a heretofore bone dry winter that will leave the west coast without enough water for the summer is turned upside down by a ridiculously wet March. By the end of March the mountain snowpack goes from 25% of what it should be to 125%, all in one wet wild month. I think it was 1965 (going off memory) where there was an excess of 40 days of continuous hard rain that left the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys under some ten meters, not feet but meters, of water. There was literally a lake from the western Sierra foothills all the way across to the coastal mountain ranges.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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