The West Coast is set to be battered by one of the most intense weather events in years as a ferocious Pineapple Express prepares to bring an unrelenting onslaught of rain.
California and much of the Pacific Northwest are bracing for a deluge that could bring up to a foot of rain in some areas, sparking serious concerns about flooding, landslides and power outages – especially in regions recently leveled by wildfires.
The powerful storm will be centered in northern and central California where some areas are forecasted to receive ‘a month or more’ of rain in just a couple of days.
‘Locations like Redding and San Francisco can receive a month’s worth of rain just alone from this event,’ AccuWeather Meteorologist Elizabeth Danco said.
‘Across the rugged terrain of Northern and Central California, heavy rain can cause landslides which could lead to road closures and travel disruptions,’ she added.
The National Weather Service notified residents of the hazardous ‘atmospheric event’ in a statement posted to Facebook on Tuesday.
‘A prolonged atmospheric river event will continue to bring moderate to heavy rain with a risk for flooding to northern and into central California with heavy mountain snow,’ the NWS warned.
A woman with an umbrella is seen at Fort Point near Golden Gate Bridge during heavy rain in San Francisco as an atmospheric river hits Northern California in United States on February 4
Palm trees are blown by strong wind as the second amid the brutal Pineapple Express storm battering the West Coast
An atmospheric rivers is a long, narrow tract of the Earth’s atmosphere that gathers moisture from the tropics near the equator and sweep it toward the poles, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
A Pineapple Express is a well-known example of a strong atmospheric river that originates in the tropical Pacific near Hawaii.
‘What stands out about this Pineapple Express is the duration,’ AccuWeather meteorologist Heather Zehr told USA Today. ‘The rain is piling up.’
Meteorologists are forecasting a large part of the northern California and southwestern Oregon to see the several inches of rain.
Cities such as San Francisco and Redding could receive a month’s worth of rain, AccuWeather, a weather forecasting and media company, predicts.
The Golden Gate City was told to expect two to four inches of rain in the first half of the week, while rain in Redding – about 200 miles north – may total 4 to 8 inches.
A car sits partially submerged on a flooded road during a rain storm in Long Beach, California, on February 1
However, the heaviest rain – amounting up to 12 inches, with an maximum of 24 inches – was forecasted for Northwestern California and the northern Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Yet, it is unlikely that the Pineapple Express storm will move further inland.
‘This does not translate inland,’ Zehr said. ‘As it moves inland, it loses its connection to the tropics and the storm kind of fizzles.’
On the other side of the country, however, meteorologists are predicting another ‘massive storm’ set to batter a large section of the nation’s Eastern half.
‘A clash of warm, humid air and cold Arctic air will result in a myriad of impactful weather for millions of Americans this week,’ AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
Severe thunderstorms, a dangerous ice storm and accumulating snow are all expected to continue into Thursday as a storm races east, he added.
