irishspirit
15th January 2011, 08:46
Scientists say a plausible super-storm that could devastate California would be fed by an "atmospheric river" moving water at the same rate as 50 Mississippi rivers discharging water into the Gulf of Mexico.
Scientists who study historic storms to understand the risks modern California faces discussed on Friday a developing scaling system to measure the intensity of an atmospheric river — a huge hose-like flow of Pacific Ocean moisture into the state.
A storm scenario released by the U.S. Geological Survey this week says such a storm has the potential to cause flood damage to a quarter of the houses in the state.
The report, based on computer models analyzing the impacts of two storms that soaked the state in 1969 and 1986, describes a storm lasting more than 40 days and dumping up to 10 feet of rain.
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory?id=12620620
Scientists who study historic storms to understand the risks modern California faces discussed on Friday a developing scaling system to measure the intensity of an atmospheric river — a huge hose-like flow of Pacific Ocean moisture into the state.
A storm scenario released by the U.S. Geological Survey this week says such a storm has the potential to cause flood damage to a quarter of the houses in the state.
The report, based on computer models analyzing the impacts of two storms that soaked the state in 1969 and 1986, describes a storm lasting more than 40 days and dumping up to 10 feet of rain.
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory?id=12620620