Yes, earlier this month the atmospheric river storm brought us a major snowstorm.Not sure what you mean about language that doesn't need fixing, though.
The atmospheric river is not a snow storm, it causes a snow storm. I have heard this term for decades when following weather stories that discuss and predict long term weather forecasts. I was not aware it was being used in the main stream media and I'm guessing that is what you're objecting to.
A month ago we had what they were calling a atmospheric river storm. And I thought what the heck is that and I wondered if I was going senile because I couldn't remember a meteorologist ever using the words atmospheric river storm. I also wondered if it was a new type of global warming rain category but I don't think it is - I think they are just trying to be dramatic. So I am going to do a bit of research and see if there is a difference between heavy rain and atmospheric river storms. Cheers!
I used to have a old sailor buddy that used to call me up and tell me to baton down the hatches because a nor'easter is coming. He was really in tune with the weather. Cheers!
Yes. Personally, I think the term "Atmospheric River" (AR) is being overused and misused. It seems like any time a storm dumps over an inch of rain on California, the news quickly labels it an AR. This only panics the public. Technically, nearly every storm that comes into California from the west or southwest will have an some type of AR attached to it. Whenever a cold front moving over the central and eastern parts of the US pulls up moist air from the Gulf of Mexico (very common in the spring and early summer months), it's creating an AR; yet I rarely hear it called that.
I call it rain as well (or snow, depending on the temperature). Of course, back in the 80's they called it a "pineapple express" - more bad terminology.
I live in the northeast and major rain storms that come in from the Atlantic or up from the Gulf of Mexico are called hurricanes. If we get excessive snow, it's called a blizzard. The rest of our rain/snow will come from Canada, the southeast (the gulf) and from the mid-west with no special names.
The terms nor'easter and superstorm are occasionally used but the individual weather reporter pretty much decides when to use them.
This post was edited by NYAD at January 31, 2023 11:22 AM MST
The term hurricane comes from the size and strength of a storm, not its direction. Many of our storms in the northeast are called nor'easters, and whether we get rain, snow, or a mix simply depends on temperature.
The atmospheric river is a large system of water vapor that forms in the tropics and moves in the upper atmosphere north to the cooler regions causing heavy precipitation.
It was the precipitation (rain) that filled the reservoir not the atmospheric river (water vapor).
Jane S 