- begin quote from Pineapple Express word button below:
- Pineapple Express, an atmospheric river which affects the West Coast of North America
- Tropical upper tropospheric trough, a band of moisture common in tropical regions
- ARkStorm, a hypothetical storm by the same name that could possibly affect California
- Great Flood of 1862 (massive flooding in US West)
Pineapple Express
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a meteorological phenomenon. For the 2008 film, see Pineapple Express (film).
November 2006 satellite image showing clouds from near Hawaii to Washington, a Pineapple Express configuration
Contents
Causes and effects
How the Madden–Julian oscillation can induce a Pineapple Express.
The conditions are often created by the Madden–Julian oscillation, an equatorial rainfall pattern which feeds its moisture into this pattern. They are also present during an El Niño episode.
The composition of moisture-laden air, atmospheric dynamics, and orographic enhancement resulting from the passage of this air over the mountain ranges of the western coast of North America causes some of the most torrential rains to occur in the region. Pineapple Express systems typically generate heavy snowfall in the mountains and Interior Plateau, which often melts rapidly because of the warming effect of the system. After being drained of their moisture, the tropical air masses reach the inland prairies as a Chinook wind or simply "a Chinook", a term which is also synonymous in the Pacific Northwest with the Pineapple Express.[citation needed]
Extreme cases
Many Pineapple Express events follow or occur simultaneously with major arctic troughs in the northwestern United States, often leading to major snow-melt flooding with warm, tropical rains falling on frozen, snow laden ground.[1] Examples of this are the Christmas flood of 1964 and the Willamette Valley Flood of 1996.West coast, 1862
Early in 1862, extreme storms riding the Pineapple Express[2][3] battered the west coast for 45 days. In addition to a sudden snow melt, some places received an estimated 8.5 feet of rain,[3] leading to the worst flooding in recorded history of California, Oregon, and Nevada, known as the Great Flood of 1862. Both the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys flooded, and there was extensive flooding and mudslides throughout the region.[4]Northern California, 1952
The San Francisco Bay Area is another locale along the Pacific Coast which is occasionally affected by a Pineapple Express. When it visits, the heavy, persistent rainfall typically causes flooding of local streams as well as urban flooding. In the decades before about 1980, the local term for a Pineapple Express was "Hawaiian Storm".[5] During the second week of January, 1952, a series of "Hawaiian" storms swept into Northern California, causing widespread flooding around the Bay Area.The same storms brought a blizzard of heavy, wet snow to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, notoriously stranding the train City of San Francisco on January 13. The greatest flooding in Northern California since the 1800s occurred in 1955 as a result of a series of Hawaiian storms, with the greatest damage in the Sacramento Valley around Yuba City.
Southern California, 2005
Unusually high precipitation caused an ephemeral lake to occur in the Badwater Basin of Death Valley National Park, 2005.
Alaska, 2006
The unusually intense rainstorms that hit south-central Alaska in October 2006 were termed "Pineapple Express" rains locally.[8]Pacific Northwest, 2006
November 2006 flood, Granite Falls on the Stillaguamish River, Washington
Southern California, December 2010
In December 2010, a Pineapple Express system ravaged California from December 15 through December 22, bringing with it as much as 2 feet (61 cm) of rain to the San Gabriel Mountains and over 13 feet (4.0 m) of snow in the Sierra Nevada. Although the entire state was affected, the Southern California counties of San Bernardino, Orange, San Diego, and Los Angeles bore the brunt of the system of storms, as coastal and hillside areas were impacted by mudslides and major flooding.[9]California, December 2014
In December 2014, a powerful winter storm fueled by a Pineapple Express hit Northern California, resulting in snow, wind, and flood watches.[10] A blizzard warning was issued by the National Weather Service for the Northern Sierra Nevada for the first time in California since 2008.[11] The storm caused power outage for more than 50,000 people.[12] It was expected to be the most powerful storm to impact California since the January 2010 California winter storms.[13][14] A rare tornado touched down in Los Angeles on December 12.[15]See also
References
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2010) |
- "Los Angeles tornado violently wakes up city". NJ Today. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pineapple Express. |
- (Dead) Pineapple Express from a website of the Mount Washington Observatory
- Satellite photo of the Pineapple Express from a University of Oregon website
- Animation of the Pineapple Express by NASA (dead)
On October 10, 2006 an unusual weather formation forced some upper level moisture out of the Pacific Ocean into Alaska. This “Pineapple Express” produced over 5 inches of rain over a twenty-four hour period.
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