Skip to main content

Atmostpheric Rivers

Atmostpheric Rivers (ARs) are long, narrow shaped streams of water - and lots of it. Nicknamed "Pinapple Express" they form when winds over the Pacific draw moisture from the warm, moist air over the tropics and channel it toward the West Coast. When this ribbon of moisture meets mountains, it is forced upward, cooling it and turning its water into immense quantities of rain and snow.

Learn more on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) website:
https://www.noaa.gov/stories/what-are-atmospheric-rivers

Atmospheric River, from Scientific American September 2022
Atmospheric River, from Scientific American article linked below

 LEARN MORE:

 

Join our mailing list