National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Atmospheric River in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies this Weekend

A Pacific storm and atmospheric river will impact the Pacific Northwest states and northern Rockies this weekend, bringing locally heavy low elevations rain and heavy high elevation snow in the mountains. By Sunday over the Interior Northwest, rain combined with snowmelt will increase the risk of flood hazards. Flood Watches are in effect. Read More >

Fig. 15. The combined infrared satellite imagery and regional radar reflectivity mosaic from 2300 UTC 16 July to 0200 UTC 17 July 2003 shows Claudette as it became increasingly disorganized over far southwest Texas. Satellite imagery suggests that the middle and upper level cloud structure became less symmetrical with time as the system weakened and dry air began to entrain into the circulation from the south. Plots of the regional surface observations reveal that Claudette’s low level circulation was becoming displaced from the circulation aloft as it began rapidly moving west-northwest into northern Mexico. In addition, thunderstorms can be seen initiating over the Serranias del Burro Mountains in northern Coahuila, Mexico. This convection trained north over Terrell County, and resulted in heavy rainfall and flash flooding.