California Weather Blog: Powerful, potentially damaging storm to bring very heavy rainfall and high winds to Northern California

From Daniel Swain at the California Weather Blog:

Very strong storm–perhaps strongest since 2008–will arrive in California late Wednesday

Numerical model depiction of approaching strong atmospheric river event. (ESRL/PSD)The numerical weather models are now in strong agreement that a powerful Pacific winter storm will slam Northern California later this week, bringing very heavy precipitation and very strong winds. In many ways the upcoming event is a textbook major storm setup for Northern California, with an impressive strengthening of the East Asian jet extending clear across the Pacific Ocean and driving a rapidly-deepening surface low pressure area off of the coast of far northern California.

Associated with this well-defined trough and strengthening low is a rather impressive atmospheric river–or narrow region of highly concentrated atmospheric water vapor transport–a phenomenon that is often linked with extreme precipitation and flooding along the West Coast of North America when other atmospheric conditions are favorable. This week, it does indeed appear that all the ingredients may come together for a very high-impact storm event, especially across the northern half of the state. … ”

Continue reading at the California Weather Blog here: Powerful, potentially damaging storm to bring very heavy rainfall and high winds to Northern California

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