A powerful atmospheric river pummeled California, and the pictures look unreal

On Wednesday, San Jose Mercury News photojournalist Karl Mondon spotted a man in flooded Guerneville, California rowing through town in a blue dumpster.

A potent atmospheric river — a long band of water vapor that often transports ample amounts of moisture to the western U.S. like "rivers in the sky" — deluged portions of Northern California this week. The Russian River, which winds through the Sonoma County town of Guerneville, reached over 45-feet high and swamped the area, prompting the Sheriff to announce on Twitter that the town had been surrounded by water — with no way in or out.  

While California relies heavily on these wintertime atmospheric rivers for its water, scientists expect these storms to grow dramatically wetter as Earth's climate heats up.  Read more...

More about California, Global Warming, Climate Change, Atmospheric River, and Flooding

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