How climate change contributes to the atmospheric rivers slamming the West Coast

Climate change may play a role in the intensity of atmospheric rivers that have been slamming the West Coast with excessive rainwater periodically for more than a year.

The California coast is currently getting pummeled with heavy rain from atmospheric rivers, essentially rivers in the sky that collect moisture from tropical areas and redistribute the water to higher latitudes. The current El Niño pattern is also favoring multiple rounds of heavy rain and an overall period of unsettled, rainy weather, forecasts show.

The relentless moisture is causing life-threatening flooding in some of the most populous cities in Southern California, including Los Angeles and San Diego, which were already soaked from a previous round of torrential rain late last week.

Climate change and a strong El Niño event could both play a role in the intensity of impacts that atmospheric rivers have when they hit the West Coast, according to scientists.

While it is not possible to say that a specific weather event is due to climate change as it unfolds, research shows that climate change is making the impacts from naturally occurring events, like atmospheric rivers, more intense.