Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that transport water vapor outside of the tropics. These “rivers in the sky” reach land and then release the water vapor in the form of rain or snow, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
A state of emergency has been declared in the US state of California after a severe winter storm powered by an atmospheric river slammed into the state on Sunday. The storm brought with it heavy downpours, flooding, and hurricane-force winds leaving nearly 1 million Americans without power.On Sunday, at about 8:20 PM EST nearly 1 million Californians were without power due to the powerful winter storm, according to poweroutage.us. The power outages did not discriminate, hitting counties that stretched between Northern and Central Coast California. The counties of Santa Clara, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Solano, Sonoma, Placer, Mendocino, Yuba, Yolo, San Mateo, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo, were badly hit by the power outages.
