Atmospheric river headed toward the Central Coast

A major source of rainfall here on the central coast are atmospheric rivers… Which is why we keep our eye on them.

These rivers are basically a large amount of moisture heading toward California. The one we are currently tracking would be considered moderate to possibly a stronger storm. One specific type of atmospheric river we keep our eyes on is known as the pineapple express. This is when the river’s moisture source comes from near the Hawaiian Islands.

Matt Mehle from the National Weather Service says, “so the image on the right here is actually the visible satellite. As we look through, this is the main storm system we are focusing on. That’s
slowly heading toward California. That’s San Francisco right there. The next image we have over here is our precipital water, basically that is showing how much moisture we have in the atmosphere. That is Hawaii down here, notice the tap goes all the way up to California… that’s the pineapple express. “

We usually get several of these per year during the winter months… Some stronger than others.

“The reason meteorologists are concerned with the atmospheric river, as I mentioned before, it brings a lot of moisture to the state. More importantly to our area when we get that heavy moisture it turns into heavy rain. Rainfall could be anywhere in the order of a few inches to as much of a foot of rain in a 24 hour period.” – Matt Mehle // National Weather Service, meteorologist

This storm system will rival one of the biggest systems of the year… which could cause some trouble for coastal mountains.

“We have our highest rainfall totals piling up along the big sur coast… as much as ten inches will be possible. Shifting closer to the Santa Cruz Mountains we are looking two to three inches… maybe
some higher spots of about four. – Matt Mehle // National Weather Service, meteorologist

“The concern there would be if we get a lot of rainfall in a short amount of
time. That could translate to some flooding potential. Fortunately the Soberanes burn scar from three years ago has had time to green up, so we are not expecting any major concerns with that” – Matt Mehle // National Weather Service, meteorologist

The biggest threat for us would be some localized flooding or ponding on the roadways as the heavier rain bands push through.