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Kitchen Table Kibitzing: Bomb Cyclones Hit California [1]

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Date: 2023-01-12

Tuesday: an abbreviated dog walk. Thought I had caught a break in the rain. We made it up the block and around the corner when suddenly the thunder and lightning storm began accompanied by punishing sheets of hail. Came home, dried us off, and turned on the tv to an emergency warning from the National Weather Service regarding extreme hazardous weather in the area.

This is the third time in five days that I’ve heard this broadcast. This morning, I read in a local paper that two boats moored in Ricardson Bay sunk yesterday.

For over two weeks, California has been pelted with back-to-back atmospheric rivers, bomb cyclones, and thunder and lightning storms. We’ve been dealing with flooding houses and highways, mudslides, downed power lines, overflowing creeks, and periods of hurricane force winds. And this is in Northern California! To the south, it’s been much, much worse. The bad news for us here in NorCal is that the storms which battered SoCal headed our way Wednesday morning.

The sense of relief that many of us experienced when the rains first came, relief fueled by our hopes for an end to the ferocious drought and the treacherous wildfires, has been replaced with anxiety as we have become prisoners to the weather. In some ways it reminds me of the early days of Covid: we’re being told not to drive unless it’s absolutely necessary. In other ways, it reminds me of fire season, waking each morning to the same sense of hopelessness. And the knowledge that this back-to-back severe storm scenario looks to be the future of weather in California.

The Guardian has a piece detailing what’s going on with California’s weather — Bomb cyclones to atmospheric rivers: what’s causing the California deluge?

The article details the role La Nina plays in the unpredictability California is experiencing in its weather this past month and states that climate change causes super-charged storms. But it’s the information on Atmospheric Rivers and Bombcyclones which is the most eye opening.

Rivers in the Sky — Atmospheric Rivers

ARs are long moisture streams consisting of tropical water vapor produced when the Pacific’s warm water evaporates. “ARs carry enough water to rival the average flow at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi River, and are ready to unleash it wherever they make landfall.

ARs are an incredibly important part of California’s climate, delivering roughly half of the state’s annual precipitation. But they can also be incredibly destructive, often accompanied by strong gusty winds. Rated on a scale of one to five, lighter ARs from one to three are considered more beneficial, filling reservoirs and replenishing desiccated landscapes.

Bomb Cyclones

Differing from hurricanes and other storms, bomb cyclones have the worst weather at their edges rather than in the center. A “bomb cyclone is a storm whose pressure is really falling rapidly and in that case it is rapidly strengthening”, says Alex Lamers, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center.

Bomb cyclones are borne out of “bombogenesis,” a term meteorologists use to measure drops in pressure (that correlate with strengthening) at different latitudes. Bombogenesis occur when warm air and cold air collide. These so-called “extra-tropical cyclones” can form atmospheric rivers, but they can also be boosted by them. “It is like a feedback loop,” said Dr Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes and a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “When you have an AR already present, the AR can supercharge the new cyclone, which can then strengthen the AR.” These two types of systems have come together to create the series of storms hitting California over the last few weeks.

Al Jazeera reports ‘Parade of storms’ throttles California for a third straight week

As of Tuesday:

At least 17 people have died in the storms

Over 34 million Californians (nearly 10 percent of the total population of the US) have been impacted by the storms

Almost 90% of California is under flood watch alert

10,000 people in Montecito have been ordered to evacuate

California rainfall totals are 400% to 600% above average for this time of year

Over the last two weeks, parts of coastal California have experienced up to 25 inches of rain, “with isolated areas receiving 35 inches or more.”

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