Blog: Rivers in the sky – How atmospheric rivers impact fish communities
Recent torrential rain and severe storms in California are due in part to massive storm systems known as atmospheric rivers. Although this term may seem abstract at first glance, it actually refers to rivers in the sky (atmosphere) that are made up of large volumes of water vapor. These storms will often appear as trails of wispy clouds that can be hundreds of miles wide. As the clouds move over land, the water vapor cools and is released as precipitation or rain. Strong atmospheric rivers have been known to carry 7.5-15 times the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River and on average, a few atmospheric rivers in a year make up 30-50% of the west coast’s total annual rainfall.