#atmospheric-river

#atmospheric-river

A record-breaking snowfall event unfolded in far eastern Russia last week when the town of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, located on the Kamchatka peninsula's east coast, received more than 1.8 metres (6 feet) of lying snow in places. Strong winds accompanying the snowfall caused extreme drifting of more than 3 metres against buildings and cars. Two key ingredients combined to cause such an extreme snowfall event. Strong Pacific low pressures dragged moist air from the tropics northwards, which clashed with cold Arctic air already over the region. Conveyor belts of tropical air are called atmospheric rivers and often bring heavy rainfall to places such as California.

The Bay Air Air District decided Tuesday to usher in 2026 with a directive: No burning wood. Such were the consequences from a Spare the Air alert the agency issued for Thursday, the first day of the new year. Personal fireworks and residential wood burning are expected to cause localized elevated pollution levels, the air district said in a social media statement announcing the alert.

Nothing but dirt and dry, brown chaparral rolled beneath skis and snowboards dangling from a chairlift at Big Bear Mountain Resort on Friday, as forlorn adventure seekers joked they should rename the place "Big Bare." Unseasonably high temperatures even left the impressive array of high-tech, artificial snowmakers below mostly useless, their fans spinning idly in the warm breeze.

"Rain on snow event with a strong atmospheric river flow into PNW/BC/ID/MT/WY. Rain/snow lines get pushed to higher elevations with more rain than snow. It's a long wait for UT/CA/AZ/NM/Southern CO." - Chris Tomer Forecast Rain/Snow Line Elevations: Crystal Mountain, WA: Up to 8,000'+ Revelstoke, BC: Up to 4500'/1,350m Whitefish, MT: Up to 8500′ Jackson Hole, MT: Up to 9,000′ Brundage, ID: Up to 9,000′

The National Weather Service is making no promises the forecast is currently "low to moderate confidence" but the agency says that a low pressure system is moving down from Alaska and should be impacting the West Coast with rain by Friday, likely starting in the North Bay. The storm system is being called an atmospheric river, and meteorologists say that parts of Northern California and the southern Oregon coast are the most likely to see heavy rainfall by the weekend.