Wednesday December 4, 2024
Newsweek —
Lake Oroville in California last month saw one of the biggest water-level changes the reservoir has ever experienced in November.
A bomb cyclone brought dangerous weather conditions across the Pacific Northwest last month, causing power outages for more than a half-million people and killing at least two. Several atmospheric rivers pummeled California at about the same time.
A bomb cyclone occurs when a storm’s pressure drops quickly, which intensifies the storm and ramps up wind gusts. Atmospheric rivers are a “long, narrow region in the atmosphere—like rivers in the sky—that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The deluge contributed to a sudden rise in several California reservoirs, including Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir.