British Columbia’s South Coast is weathering its first atmospheric river of the fall and the province’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness says residents should prepare for increased rainfall and the chance of flooding.
Rainfall warnings cover most of Vancouver Island, as well as the Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound, Whistler and Metro Vancouver, with Environment Canada saying a weather system is pumping moisture from the subtropics directly at the B.C. coast.
I learned a new term. Definition of atmospheric rivers for whoever else may find it useful (from https://www.noaa.gov/stories/what-are-atmospheric-rivers):
Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics. While atmospheric rivers can vary greatly in size and strength, the average atmospheric river carries an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Exceptionally strong atmospheric rivers can transport up to 15 times that amount. When the atmospheric rivers make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or snow.
Honestly it feels like every relatively large rain event they have called an atmospheric river since the first time the media used the term in the great flood of 2021.
It’s just another crutch phrase at this point.
