Vivid Satellite Imagery Captures a Reversal of Fortune for Drought-Plagued Parts of the West

Gargantuan atmospheric rivers of moisture along with a series of storms have provided desperately needed relief.

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By Tom Yulsman
Dec 29, 2021 3:20 AMDec 29, 2021 3:19 AM
Screen Shot 2021-12-24 at 3.24.28 PM
The GOES-West weather satellite captured this infrared image of a river of water vapor surging through the middle and lower levels of the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean toward the west coast of North America on Dec. 24, 2021. See below for an animation of this vast atmospheric river. (Credit: NOAA)

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At least for now, California and other parts of the western United States have gone from famine to feast.

We're talking about precipitation, of course.

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