A powerful atmospheric river swept through the Gulf of Alaska in September 2024, bringing abundant rain to coastal British Columbia, Canada, and southeastern Alaska.
A powerful atmospheric river swept through the Gulf of Alaska in September 2024, bringing abundant rain to coastal British Columbia, Canada, and southeastern Alaska. Because of its duration and the concentration of moisture moving across the ocean, experts suspect this atmospheric river was among the most intense to transit the northeast Pacific in a satellite-based record going back to 2000.
The potent storm is visible in this image, acquired by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite on September 22. In this image, an elongated stream of water vapor—the hallmark of atmospheric rivers—had reached the west coast of North America after crossing the Pacific from Southeast Asia. When atmospheric rivers encounter land, they often release that water vapor in the form of rain or snow.
Areas along the coast of British Columbia and southeast Alaska saw days-long stretches of significant precipitation. In the town of Bella Bella, British Columbia, between 50 and 100 millimeters (2 and 4 inches) of rain fell each day from September 21 to 24. Rainfall totals in Yakutat, Alaska, topped 25 millimeters (1 inch) on September 23 and 24.
Read More: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Michala Garrison
