So the weather is in the news this morning: locally, because we have our first almost-winter day in Southwest Virginia tomorrow that is really nothing too noteworthy save for the anticipation of sideways rain driven by 40 mph gusts and night-time temps for the first time in the upper 30s.
This will seem absolutely tame in a month. So this is our dry run for tying down the porch furniture, gathering the last of the tender veggies before frost, and looking for our long woolies before we need them.
However, on the west coast, the Pineapple Express has far more potential to do real damage than its innocuous name would suggest.
I found a good source in my own story-telling past. The blog post explains the malevolent river of atmospheric water and the extent of its potential to do harm—even back in the 1860s. Today, an equivalent storm would be much, much more damaging.
I wrote about it on Fragments from Floyd, and given the circumstances, thought it worthwhile to share it. Then, watch the Weather Channel in your flannel bathrobe. And stay dry.
Read about the ARK event that remains VERY possible, if not likely, in California. ARK : Atmospheric River every Thousand Years.
California: Building an Ark from Fragments from Floyd, August 2020
That was so interesting to me, living in Los Angeles county.
That video feels like it was written as an appeal for funding for the USGS.