Publication: NPR News

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis:  California is enduring the effects of an atmospheric river, a meteorological phenomenon where converging air systems funnel wet air into a long, riverine flow that dumps large amounts of rain when it makes landfall.

UCLA News:"Atmospheric rivers can transport volumes of water many times that of the Mississippi River, doing so all in the air above your head," Swain says. He joined NPR’s Aaron Scott to explain where these "rivers" of air come from, how climate change is fueling more of them, and why you're a lot more likely to have heard of them if you happen to live on the west coast of almost any continent.

Read more at NPR News.