California atmospheric river warning as West Coast to be pummeled by onslaught of rain

The West Coast of the US will once again be “drenched” by heavy rain this winter due to a freak weather phenomena, a meteorological report has predicted.
Last winter, a series of ‘atmospheric rivers’ – a narrow region in the air transporting water vapor that cause severe rains – battered the West Coast and caused devastating floods and landslides.
California was soaked by heavy rain as a result of the storms, which lifted lakes and rivers.

The new an AccuWeather report, publised today, predicts more wet weather is going to pummel the region.
According to the report, moisture in the Pacific Northwest will begin to increase in November and December.
The prediction comes after California endured weeks of blistering heat this summer, which sent temperatures soaring well past 100 degrees in some areas.
There has also been heat-related weather warnings in the state as recently as October.
Paul Pastelok, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist and long-range expert, told Newsweek that another strong atmospheric river winter could boost California’s water levels, amid drought in the state’s northeast and southeast corners.
Meteorologists believe that in the first half of winter atmospheric rivers will be seen in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, before storms move inland towards the Rocky Mountains.
The report said there will be “big change” in 2025, as a new weather pattern will form and create “prime conditions for storms to shift southward and affect Central and Southern California.”

January is expected to be the wettest month of the year for Los Angeles and San Diego, while other cities throughout the Southwest are tipped to experience wet weather as the storms move inland.
It is thought that storms will hit Northern California again in February.
Pastelok said if the water temperatures in the Pacific shift east, California could experience a dry, warm winter, similar to the 2013-14 season.
AccuWeather is predicting a slightly warmer than normal winter across much of the rest of the nation, apart from the Pacific Northwest and inland states like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, where a cooler than normal winter is expected.

Atmospheric rivers occur when water evaporates into the air and is carried along by the wind – forming long currents in the sky that resemble rivers flowing on land.