Pineapple Express is a specific recurring atmospheric river both in the waters immediately northeast of the Hawaiian Islands and extending northeast to any location along the Pacific coast of North America. It is a non-technical term and a meteorological phenomenon. It is characterized by a strong and persistent large-scale flow of warm moist air, and the associated heavy precipitation. A Pineapple Express is an example of an atmospheric river, which is a more general term for such relatively narrow corridors of enhanced water vapor transport at mid-latitudes around the world.
Highway 7, known for most of its length as the Lougheed Highway and Broadway, is an alternative route to Highway 1 through the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. Whereas the controlled-access Highway 1 follows the southern bank of the Fraser River, Highway 7 follows the northern bank.
Hurricane Calvin was one of three Pacific hurricanes on record to make landfall along the Mexican coast during the month of July. The fourth tropical cyclone, third named storm, and second hurricane of the 1993 Pacific hurricane season, Calvin developed from an area of convection to the south of Mexico on July 4. The following day, the system intensified into a tropical storm, which was named Calvin. Continued strengthening ensued as Calvin curved from its initial westward track northward, and was upgraded to a hurricane on July 6. Calvin eventually turned northwest, and became a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS). By July 7, Hurricane Calvin made landfall near Manzanillo at peak strength. Calvin rapidly weakened after landfall, and was a tropical storm when it reemerged into the Pacific Ocean on early on July 8. Despite this, the hurricane did not reintensify, and continued to weaken as it headed rapidly northwestward. As Calvin made a second Mexican landfall near the southern tip of Baja California peninsula late on July 8, it weakened to a tropical depression. Early on July 9, the depression dissipated shortly after entering the Pacific Ocean for a third time.
The Hanukkah Eve windstorm of 2006 was a powerful Pacific Northwest windstorm in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and southern British Columbia, Canada between December 14, 2006 and December 15, 2006. The storm produced hurricane-force wind gusts and heavy rainfall, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and leaving over 1.8 million residences and businesses without power. Eighteen people were killed, most of whom died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the days following the storm because of improper use of barbecue cookers and generators indoors. The name of the storm was chosen in a contest run by the National Weather Service office in Seattle from about 8,000 entries.
The Great Coastal Storm of 2007 was a series of three powerful Pacific storms that affected the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia between December 1 and December 4, 2007.
Global weather activity of 2007 profiles the major worldwide weather events, including blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, tropical cyclones, and other weather events, from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2007. Winter storms are events in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are formed during cold temperatures; they include snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold enough to allow ice, including freezing rain, to form. Thehy may be marked by strong wind, thunder, lightning thunderstorms, heavy precipitation, including ice storm, wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere, including dust storms, snowstorms, and hail storms. Other major non winter events such as large dust storms, hurricanes, cyclones, tornados, gales, flooding, and rainstorms are also caused by such phenomena.
Pacific Northwest windstorms, sometimes colloquially known as Big Blows, are extratropical cyclones which form in the Pacific basin, and affect land areas in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and British Columbia, Canada. They form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure that track across the North Pacific Ocean towards western North America. Deep low pressure areas are relatively common over the North Pacific. They are most common in the winter months. On average, the month when most windstorms form is November or December.
Storm Desmond was an extratropical cyclone and fourth named storm of the 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season, notable for directing a plume of moist air, known as an atmospheric river, which brought record amounts of orographic rainfall to upland areas of northern Atlantic Europe and subsequent major floods.
The January 2018 American West floods occurred due to heavy precipitation in the Western United States. While wildfires in Southern California exacerbated the rain's effects there, other states, like Nevada, also experienced flooding.
In April 2018, a series of thunderstorms produced record-breaking rainfall on the Hawaiian Islands of Kauaʻi and Oahu. An upper-level low moved across the area on April 13, generating a mesoscale convective system that moved over eastern Oahu, producing localized heavy rainfall that reached 5.55 in (141 mm). The heaviest rainfall occurred on northern Kauaʻi. There, a rain gauge owned by the Waipā Foundation, just west of Hanalei, recorded 49.69 in (1,262 mm) of rainfall in the 24 hours between 12:45 p.m. on April 14 and 15. This was the greatest 24-hour rainfall total on record in the United States, surpassing the previous record of 43 in (1,100 mm) in Alvin, Texas on July 25–26, 1979, set during Tropical Storm Claudette. Through the event, the same gauge recorded a total of 54.37 in (1,381 mm) of rain.
Several storms struck the coast of British Columbia in December 2018, some causing damage, and one death.
An extremely powerful extratropical cyclone began in late October 2021 in the Northeast Pacific and struck the Western United States and Western Canada. The storm was the third and the most powerful cyclone in a series of powerful storms that struck the region within a week. The cyclone tapped into a large atmospheric river and underwent explosive intensification, becoming a bomb cyclone on October 24. The bomb cyclone had a minimum central pressure of 942 millibars (27.8 inHg) at its peak, making it the most powerful cyclone recorded in the Northeast Pacific. The system had severe impacts across Western North America, before dissipating on October 26. The storm shattered multiple pressure records across parts of the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, the bomb cyclone was the most powerful storm on record to strike the region, in terms of minimum central pressure. The bomb cyclone brought powerful gale-force winds and flooding to portions of Western North America. At its height, the storm cut the power to over 370,500 customers across the Western U.S. and British Columbia. The storm killed at least two people; damage from the storm was estimated at several hundred million dollars. The bomb cyclone was compared to the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, in terms of ferocity.
The 2021 Pacific Northwest floods were a series of floods that affected British Columbia, Canada, and parts of neighboring Washington state in the United States. The flooding and numerous mass wasting events were caused by a Pineapple Express, a type of atmospheric river, which brought heavy rain to parts of southern British Columbia and northwestern United States. The natural disaster prompted a state of emergency for the province of British Columbia.
The November 2021 Atlantic Canada floods are a series of floods that affected Atlantic Canada, along with eastern areas of Quebec. The floods, similar to those that occurred in the Pacific Northwest a few days prior, were caused by an atmospheric river. Due to the intensity of the rainfall, a state of emergency was declared in Inverness and Victoria counties in Cape Breton Island. Additionally, the intensity of the rainfall resulted in part of the Trans Canada Highway being closed just north of Port-aux-Basques in Newfoundland.
In early February 2024, two atmospheric rivers brought extensive flooding, intense winds, and power outages to portions of California. The storms caused record-breaking rainfall totals to be observed in multiple areas, as well as the declaration of states of emergency in multiple counties in Southern California. Wind gusts of hurricane force were observed in San Francisco, along with wind gusts reaching over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) in the Sierra Nevada. Widespread landslides occurred as a result of the storms, as well as multiple rivers overflowing due to the excessive rainfall. Stormchaser Reed Timmer stated that "Biblical flooding" was possible throughout California during the atmospheric river.
A powerful extratropical cyclone developed c. November 18, 2024, in the Northeast Pacific and struck the Western United States and Western Canada. The storm underwent bombogenesis, rapidly dropping its central pressure to a record-tying level of 942 millibars (27.8 inHg). This storm was the first of two storm systems to impact the U.S. West Coast during a 3 day period. The storm was associated with an atmospheric river that dropped large amounts of rain in Oregon and California. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a rare high risk of excessive rainfall in parts of Northern California, warning of "life-threatening flooding".
