WASHINGTON POST • December 21, 2023
Atmospheric rivers – jets of intense precipitation that curl around powerful ocean storms – are generally considered a West Coast phenomenon. But it turns out a top tier atmospheric river – rated Category 5 on scale of 1 to 5 – was part of the East Coast storm that killed at least five people and cut power to more than 800,000 customers this week. The storm unleashed at least 4 inches of rain and wind gusts over 50 mph in every Eastern Seaboard state from Florida to Maine. Boosted by the atmospheric river, the storm generated exceptional rainfall that caused creeks, streams and rivers to overflow. The river in the sky drew record-setting warmth from the tropics northward, melting snow in the mountains of the Northeast, which made the flooding even worse.