By Rachel Ramirez, CNN Imagine a long river of water vapor in the sky coming into the West Coast. It is how Marty Ralph, the director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, described the storm event threatening California at the moment. The storms
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By Allison Chinchar, CNN Meteorologist When you think of Florida, beaches and palm trees come to mind. But what if those palm trees were slowly replaced with other trees? That could happen over time because of climate change, and communities in South Florida are trying to save the world from the climate crisis, one tree
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By Haley Brink, CNN Meteorologist A “bomb cyclone” with hurricane-like strength and a chart-topping “atmospheric river” will coincide Saturday night into Sunday to unleash flooding rains, wet snow, strong winds and coastal surf across the western US. This will be the third and strongest in a series of storms to strike the West Coast this
Continue Reading By Haley Brink, CNN Meteorologist A “bomb cyclone” with hurricane-like strength and a chart-topping “atmospheric river” will coincide Saturday night into Sunday to unleash flooding rains, wet snow, strong winds and coastal surf across the western US. This will be the third and strongest in a series of storms to strike the West Coast this
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By Monica Garrett, CNN Meteorologist As the country transitions from the heat of summer to the cold of winter, the clash between seasons will trigger severe storms, including tornadoes, this weekend in the central United States. A system developing in the Southern Plains on I wiFriday will become the focus of severe weather Saturday and
Continue Reading By Monica Garrett, CNN Meteorologist As the country transitions from the heat of summer to the cold of winter, the clash between seasons will trigger severe storms, including tornadoes, this weekend in the central United States. A system developing in the Southern Plains on I wiFriday will become the focus of severe weather Saturday and
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By Jennifer Gray and Taylor Ward, CNN Meteorologists The southwestern US will continue to struggle through drought conditions this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted Thursday in its outlook for the coming winter. Meanwhile, a warmer and drier-than-normal winter is forecast for the nation’s southern region, along with a wetter-than-normal winter for the
Continue ReadingBy John Keefe, Rachel Ramirez and Angela Fritz, CNN After months of extreme drought, the wet season has arrived in the West. Though rain is much needed, extreme downpours could unleash flash floods and treacherous debris flows. The season could alleviate the drought and fire conditions, but the long-term impacts of drought persist. In California,
Continue ReadingBy Jennifer Gray and Taylor Ward, CNN Meteorologists The southwestern US will continue to struggle through drought conditions this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted Thursday in its outlook for the coming winter. Meanwhile, a warmer and drier-than-normal winter is forecast for the nation’s southern region, along with a wetter-than-normal winter for the
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By Pedram Javaheri After nearly a year without rain, a series of potent Pacific storms are directed at Northern California this week, potentially bringing as much as a foot of rainfall and up to three feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. Supercharged by a classic atmospheric river pattern, the storms could lead to flash
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By Aya Elamroussi, CNN After California saw its driest year on record in nearly 100 years, the entire state is now under a drought emergency, officials said Tuesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide drought emergency proclamation, expanding an existing one to add eight counties that were not previously included. “As the western US faces
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By Jennifer Gray and Haley Brink, CNN meteorologists As we get into the latter part of the busiest three-month period of hurricane season (August, September, October), can we start to take a deep breath and exhale? Is this it? Have we seen the worst of hurricane season? Is it over? In August, Colorado State University
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By Amanda Watts and Jason Hanna, CNN Southern California’s Alisal Fire, which earlier this week closed portions of US Highway 101 and the Union Pacific Railroad west of Santa Barbara, was 50% contained as of Saturday morning, fire officials said. That’s an improvement from Friday morning’s 41%. The fire has burned about 17,200 acres since
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By Aya Elamroussi and Cheri Mossburg, CNN Santa Barbara’s famed Reagan Ranch, known as the Western White House during the Reagan administration, narrowly escaped the flames of the Alisal Fire, which has charred nearly 17,000 acres since igniting last Monday. Firefighters appear to be gaining ground on the blaze, as containment of the fire jumped
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By Allison Chinchar, CNN Meteorologist After the hottest and driest summer in California history, and a September that was Los Angeles County’s driest ever, concerns are high that Santa Ana wind season could significantly worsen what has already been a disastrous fire year. For the second time this week, Pacific Gas & Electric has had
Continue Reading By Allison Chinchar, CNN Meteorologist After the hottest and driest summer in California history, and a September that was Los Angeles County’s driest ever, concerns are high that Santa Ana wind season could significantly worsen what has already been a disastrous fire year. For the second time this week, Pacific Gas & Electric has had
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By Brandon Miller and Judson Jones, CNN Winter weather, ongoing drought conditions and even the remainder of hurricane season will see impacts from a recent cooling of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific. La Niña conditions — the opposite phase of El Niño — have emerged in the tropical Pacific Ocean over the past month,
Continue Reading By Brandon Miller and Judson Jones, CNN Winter weather, ongoing drought conditions and even the remainder of hurricane season will see impacts from a recent cooling of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific. La Niña conditions — the opposite phase of El Niño — have emerged in the tropical Pacific Ocean over the past month,
Continue ReadingCNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at Hurricane Sandy, which was also called “Superstorm Sandy.” According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states and all of the eastern seaboard. Causing an estimated $78.7 billion in damages, it was the fourth-costliest US storm behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and hurricanes Harvey
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By Aya Elamroussi, CNN The heavy winds that have been fanning the Alisal Fire — which already closed part of Highway 101 and shuttered Amtrak railways in Santa Barbara County, California, are likely to continue, possibly hindering progress in battling the blaze — and triggering power outages. “When the winds are strong and they shift,
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