California has been plagued by recurring storms for several weeks. In recent days, torrential rains have come over saturated soils, causing massive flooding. Seventeen people died, swept away by the waters.
After two decades of drought and fire, California is under water. The cause: a meteorological phenomenon called quick pineapple or “pineapple express”. It is an atmospheric river, a band of rain that circulates through the atmosphere, originating on the Hawaiian side, which explains its name.
A series of depressions over several weeks.
This river is several hundred miles wide and stretches for thousands of miles long, stretching as far as the west coast of the United States. Due to its immense size, it brings with it a series of depressions heavily laden with tropical moisture, causing torrential rains for several days or even weeks.
There are episodes of quick pineapple nearly every year between southern Alaska and northern Mexico. Devastating events like the one currently affecting California sometimes occur when a large mass of cold air from the Arctic meets tropical air.
The rains also fall at higher altitudes in the mountains and can cause some of the snowpack to melt, which then adds to runoff and exacerbates flooding.
devastating storms
Large roads cut, landslides, fallen trees… The damage in California is very significant. In Montecito, luxurious villas are now drowning in water and mud and more than 100,000 homes are without power. The city of San Francisco has never experienced this much rainfall since the start of weather records.
This heavy rain is expected to last through at least Sunday in the Golden State with a new wave of rain expected in the next few hours on Wednesday.
Source: BFM TV
