A barrage of storms known as atmospheric rivers is expected to soak the West Coast over the next eight to 10 days, raising the risk of flooding, power outages and holiday travel disruptions leading up to Christmas in a region that has already experienced significant weather activity this season. The bulk of the rain and snow is likely to fall between British Columbia and Northern California, with Washington and Oregon poised to have some of the wettest, sloppiest weather. Several storms, including one that swept into the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday night, are stacked up in the forecast, said Marty Ralph, the director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the University of California, San Diego.

Other weather & snowpack articles:

• Yale University news release: Intense ribbons of rain also bring the heat, Yale scientists say
• Nature: Study: Atmospheric rivers cause warm winters and extreme heat events
• The Conversation: Blog: No flood gauges, no warning: 99% of US streams are off the radar amid rising flash flood risks – we saw the harm in 2024
• San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Family’ of atmospheric rivers to unleash wet and stormy conditions across Northern California
• KABC 7 Los Angeles: What’s behind Southern California’s dry start to December?
• San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s how much California’s snowpack benefited from recent storms
• The Park Record (Park City, Utah): Snowpack is 81% of normal, a slow start for December
• Sierra Conservancy: Blog: Weather whiplash in the Sierra-Cascade and the need to accelerate resilience