Last Tuesday, a storm that is classified as a "West Coast version of a hurricane" hit Sacramento with a wallop that was frightening.  The howling winds and relentless rains went on for an entire day, resulting in 3 inches of rain for Sacramento, and up to 9 inches of rain up in the hills! Big Sur, California received 20 inches of rain in one 24 hour period. 

Fortunately, most of the water landed in remote areas. We've also been in a multi year drought, and do not have over saturated soil or high water levels yet.

Hurricanes are so rare in California that there is not even a formal system of classifying them yet. The Pacific is too cold a body of water around California for hurricanes that resemble the Eastern seaboard monstrosities to develop.  

The fascinating cause of this incredible meteorlogical event is called the "Atmospheric River" effect.  This is where a massive geyser of water is lifted up and flows through the air in a narrow stream, like a river that is confined to it's banks.

This is an image of an atmospheric river over Russia.

California normally gets these "atmospheric rivers" in a much milder form called the "Pineapple Express". These atmospheric rivers usually originate in the area around Hawaii. Many times, this water saturates the valley soil, then dumps the remaining massive quantities into the Sierra Nevada range before it reaches Nevada.  When there is a huge snow pack, the snow gets melted, and adds to the overloaded resevoirs and rivers. This has been the major cause of some of our worst flooding in history.

Last week's bad boy originated in Indonesia!  That's right, a "river" of water, accompanied by hurricane force winds, actually flew all the way from the Indonesian region, straight to central California, and dumped on us!  What are the odds?

If that river had flowed just a few hundred miles south, given the fire damage that has destabilized a lot of mountainous and hilly real estate down in the Los Angeles megalopolis, it would have caused a massive disaster of mudslides and ruination of unstable land.

Even being able to identify and follow such airborne rivers of water is a relatively recent development, thanks to a combination of new satellite and  weather technology.

Here is an article from the USGS.

The Modesto Bee Had The Best Article