Get ready - from Seattle's Cliff Mass:
5000 Mile Atmospheric River Will Hit the Northwest on Saturday: Heavy Rain in the Offering
The atmosphere is kind of funny when it comes to moisture. Rather than move water vapor out of the tropics in wide currents, the moisture tend to move in relatively narrow atmospheric rivers.
For us in the Pacific Northwest, the atmospheric rivers that reach our shores often come from the southwest, starting somewhere near Hawaii (see graphic of water vapor content summed up in the vertical). Thus, they are often called a pineapple express.
But sometimes, a very different configuration occurs, with moisture extending northward in the western Pacific, then heading nearly due east into our region. Traversing an amazing distance of over 5000 miles. Let's call this the Midway Express. And one of them will reach us on Saturday.
Forecast is for up to ten inches with high winds - here we go again. More power failures and potential for earth movement.
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