No, not this kind of Pineapple Express
Father Winter’s imagination for the 2023-2024 winter apparently has no boundaries as he plans to slam the Golden State with large, oval, prickly fruit. An atmospheric river, in this case known as a “Pineapple Express,” is set to bring torrential rains and strong winds to the west coast.
“An atmospheric river over the West Coast will bring heavy rainfall and gusty winds from southern Oregon to central California today, pushing south into southern California into Thursday,” the National Weather Service said in a special weather statement. “Heavy snowfall is expected over the Sierra and Intermountain West through Thursday.”
A Pineapple Express, not to be confused with the 2008 stoner film of the same name, is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon, a specific recurring atmospheric river characterized by a strong and persistent large-scale flow of warm moist air, and the associated heavy precipitation both in the waters immediately northeast of the Hawaiian Islands and extending northeast to any location along the Pacific coast of North America.
The North American west coast is comprised of Alaska at the farthest north, and continues down through the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the western U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and California, and then Mexico farthest south.
The storm is expected to move south from British Columbia, Canada, to Northern California today, reaching Southern California tomorrow before making its way to Arizona into the weekend.
A Pineapple Express can bring up to 5” (13 cm) of rain per day. Some coastal areas are expected to get over 8” (38 cm) over the course of the week. In higher elevations including the Sierra Nevada, forecasters are calling for 1’ to 3’ (30 to 90 cm) of snow.
A second atmospheric river storm is likely to follow, arriving in California by Sunday, just in time to drench the Grammy Awards. It will last into early next week.
Local officials are taking pains to reassure residents that there is no indication that the Pineapple Express will result in a megaflood. The last occurrence of a megaflood was in 1861. It lasted 45 days and formed a lake in the Central Valley.
The NWS did have some good news for the rest of the country, however.
“Warmer temperatures ranging between 20 to 40 degrees above average will expand across the Plains and Mississippi Valley,” the meteorological service said.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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