NOAA researchers have found “rivers in the sky” that carry more water than the Amazon or Mississippi. These could be a critical factor in bringing water to the drought-damaged West.

According to work done by experts at the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research:

Yes, there are rivers in the sky! Atmospheric rivers, to be exact, are narrow bands of moisture that regularly form above the Pacific Ocean and flow towards North America’s west coast, drenching it in rain and packing it with snow.

The same experts argue that food supplies could be affected by the weather phenomenon.

The state most damaged by the great drought, which has lasted for at least two years, could be helped the most:

While atmospheric rivers impact the entire West Coast, they are particularly important for California, where they can deliver half of the state’s total annual precipitation in just a few storms.

ALSO READ A Look at California Drought

Also:

California produces nearly half of all the fruits, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States, requiring an enormous amount of water. If it were its own country, California would be the eighth largest economy in the world — larger than Italy or Russia. Interruptions to the water supply impact not only the agriculture, industry, wildlife, and citizens of the state, but the nation as a whole.

Apparently, the research shows the formation of these rivers begin as far as west of Hawaii. However, the results of the rivers may not be entirely positive, the data show:

With California currently facing one of the most severe droughts on record, the mission could not be more pressing: atmospheric rivers are collectively drought breakers – though they can also cause serious and dangerous flooding.

A look at the drought that has hit California, based on U.S. Drought Monitor data, shows that 40% of the state still suffers from “exception drought,” the worst kind of drought the organization measures. As of the organization’s January 20 evaluation, the situation has not improved:

Between 2 and 5 inches of precipitation fell on a small part of northwesternmost California, but the bulk of the state was dry. Following some of the previous week’s deterioration in some areas, areas of dryness and drought changed little this week. Short-term deficits continued growing in the Sierra Nevada and adjacent Nevada, and intensely dry conditions persisted.

There is not much hope for progress, unless the rivers in the sky analysis is correct.

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