A Couple days of heavy atmospheric river rain filled an empty lake. Unbelievable....

[jkk04]

Last several years in California, there was a severe drought.
A Couple days of heavy atmospheric river rain filled an empty lake. Unbelievable....
Some local areas were flooded but welcome to rain. We need more rain.....

 

[MossRoad]

Crazy!

 

[Racenut]

And more on the way. Hopefully we'll continue to get good rain and fill those reservoirs. Last year we got 13 inches of rain in 24 hours in October, then crazy December, then not much of anything else. So hopeful for a productive winter without too much damage.

 

[BravoXray]

There was an article Scientific American a few months back about atmospheric rivers. I had never heard the term before, but I saw a weather map the other day that certainly looked like what the west coast was going to get, and they did. Those rivers can dump an enormous amount of precipitation on an area.

Better Atmospheric River Forecasts Are Giving Emergency Planners More Time to Prepare for Flooding

 

[Cougsfan]

I think we have had atmospheric rivers occurring forever, but they have just recently coined a catchy pair of words to describe it.

 

[Racenut]

I think we have had atmospheric rivers occurring forever, but they have just recently coined a catchy pair of words to describe it.

THey used to get called a "Pineapple Express" since they tend to pull moisture from the direction of Hawaii. Last few years they gave them a slightly more sophisticated name.

 

[sea2summit]

I think we have had atmospheric rivers occurring forever, but they have just recently coined a catchy pair of words to describe it.

It’s almost as if these weather patterns are cyclical if you look hard enough…

 

[ponytug]

Yup, it was definitely a gully washer.

I had two French drain outlets that looked like sprinkler heads because so much water was trying to come out through the surface grates. I pulled the grates to give the water full bore drainage for awhile, and they ran full bore for a surprisingly long time.

We had more rain on December 30th alone that the entire 30 year running average for the month of December. This December amounted to half of our typical annual rainfall.

One thing about California rainfall "averages" is that since rainfall, at least historically, is quite variable, which makes the average...atypical. While mean ("average") rainfall is close to 15" per year, the median (halfway point in rainfalls) is closer to 11", because there are a few years when we get thirty or forty inches of rain, against many years when we get ten. For more normally distributed rainfall patterns, the median and average will be close. Here, they aren't.

We have a ways to go to refill our reservoirs and aquifers after four years of drought.

From: California Water Watch

All the best,

Peter

 

[Oaktree]

It’s almost as if these weather patterns are cyclical if you look hard enough…

Agreed the planet has rhythms but I'm not aware of any patterns like what we've had the last 10 years or so, maybe in times long preceding weather records.
Here in the northeast, we've been having several years of relatively mild winters with precipitation often as not in the form of rain, not snow. Extended droughts in the west have not been all that uncommon historically.

 

[scootr]

When I moved to CA in 1980 it was raining about once a week in the desert. Annual rainfall was about 12 inches. Much like what I read it had been 30 or 40 yrs prior when herds of cattle were grazing in the high deserts. Weather cycles... unless you are a doomsayer