Weather: California Nears All-Time High Atmospheric Pressure: http://ift.tt/2hpC1uO![GettyImages-613613658]()
With California on the cusp of breaking all-time high-pressure readings, approaching Pacific rainstorms are being deflected northward to give the state a chance to dry out after a series of early season storms that caused five deaths and widespread flooding. The high-pressure structure is centered over northern Utah, but its massive zone stretches about 400 miles to form high-pressure ridges that are acting like an atmospheric shield across the Great Plains to about 200 miles off the West Coast. California was hammered by winter weather during mid-January as an extreme atmospheric low acted like a vacuum to suck in a moisture-laden “Pineapple Express” from Hawaii that brought about three times the average January rainfall across the state. With a 100 year average annual rainfall of 18.51 inches, California suffered 5 years of drought with rainfall averaging less than six inches. But this year, most of the state saw almost that much precipitation in January. At Mammoth Mountain’s Main Lodge at an altitude of 8,909 feet in the Sierra’s, the recent storms brought 35 inches of new snow in a five-day period. By the time the weather cleared, annual snowfall at America’s most popular ski area stood at 350 inches and the finish reading at http://ift.tt/2kECg35
With California on the cusp of breaking all-time high-pressure readings, approaching Pacific rainstorms are being deflected northward to give the state a chance to dry out after a series of early season storms that caused five deaths and widespread flooding. The high-pressure structure is centered over northern Utah, but its massive zone stretches about 400 miles to form high-pressure ridges that are acting like an atmospheric shield across the Great Plains to about 200 miles off the West Coast. California was hammered by winter weather during mid-January as an extreme atmospheric low acted like a vacuum to suck in a moisture-laden “Pineapple Express” from Hawaii that brought about three times the average January rainfall across the state. With a 100 year average annual rainfall of 18.51 inches, California suffered 5 years of drought with rainfall averaging less than six inches. But this year, most of the state saw almost that much precipitation in January. At Mammoth Mountain’s Main Lodge at an altitude of 8,909 feet in the Sierra’s, the recent storms brought 35 inches of new snow in a five-day period. By the time the weather cleared, annual snowfall at America’s most popular ski area stood at 350 inches and the finish reading at http://ift.tt/2kECg35