CALIFORNIA – After California’s driest January in history, rain fell in San Francisco last night signaling the start of a storm that is expected to drench Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the storm is an “atmospheric river,” also known as a Pineapple Express, and is funneling a stream of tropical moisture across the Pacific Ocean like a firehose.
National Weather Service forecaster Diana Henderson told the LA Times, “It acts like a river moving through the atmosphere, raining copiously on things below. It’s going to cover everybody.” To put this into perspective, a single atmospheric river can transport 10 to 20 times the flow of the Mississippi River.
The National Weather Service issued a storm report this morning that showed winds as high as 70 mph had knocked down power lines and toppled trees in Shasta County overnight and that the system was slowly making its way over San Francisco.
According to the LA Times, some areas west of Sacramento also saw as much as 3 inches of rain overnight, and officials warned that the Sacramento River could flood. The area is expecting around 2 inches of rain through Saturday and another inch or more from Sunday to Monday.
Wind gusts up to 45 mph are also expected in the Sacramento Valley, and thunderstorms are possible through the weekend. Outside of the valley, up to 10 inches of rain has been forecasted for some coastal foothills and inland mountains.
As for snow, forecasters have predicted that the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas could get as much as 30 inches of snow. Unfortunately, those totals won’t have much effect on California’s already low snowpack because snowfall isn’t going to drop below the necessary 8,000 feet.
Though this storm isn’t expected to make much of an impact on California’s long-standing drought, there is, however, a very small glimmer of hope.
The U.S. Drought Monitor released new data yesterday that shows 0.16% of California is no longer considered to be in drought, or even abnormally dry. According to the LA Times, that percentage equals about 262 of California’s 155,779 square miles of land.
While it is easy to dismiss such a small number, it is the first time since March 18, 2014 that any part of California was considered to be normal in terms of precipitation. Hopefully this weekend’s storm will help to make this small gain part of a growing trend.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest updates on this and other relevant weather systems.
