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Roughly a decade ago, the term "atmospheric river" seemed to enter common usage. But today is the first time I ever heard reference to a specific strength—I guess we've got a category 5 atmospheric river in Seattle right now. Is this new, or have I just not been paying attention?

Dr Grace S Peng

@gspeng.bsky.social

11 Dec 2025

Atmospheric River has been in use amongst meteorologists for decades. Categorization by severity, as done with cyclones/hurricanes, is newer. scripps.ucsd.edu/news/new-sca...

scripps.ucsd.eduNew Scale to Characterize Strength and Impacts of Atmospheric River StormsA team of researchers led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego has created a scale to characterize the strength and impacts of “atmospheric rivers,” long na...

Paul Constant

@paulconstant.com

Thank you! It's always interesting to see which of these terms get picked up on in the media.

11/12/25, 7:43 pm0 reposts0 likes

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