By Ben Brumfield
(CNN) — Fire hose weather systems are whipping rain and snow at both coasts with mighty gusts. The one in the Northeast will begin letting up this week, but the one on the Pacific Coast is just getting cranked.
Will the latter deliver a wind-whipped torrent to remember or more drought relief?
Californians will get to decide by Thursday, as a storm front piles in behind an “atmospheric river” that is driving tropical moisture ashore, the National Weather Service says.
Atmospheric rivers are 250-400 miles wide and split off like a tributary from a much larger band of moisture from the tropics.
They only come occasionally but are necessary to fill up water reservoirs, the NWS says.
“Up to 50% of annual precipitation on the West Coast occurs in just a few AR events.”
Pineapple Express
Some are called “Pineapple Expresses,” because they drag moisture over from right around Hawaii. The current one has hosed the West Coast since late November.
On the weather map, it looks like a cloud river in the sky flowing straight at the coast, and in combination with the storm system chasing it ashore, it is expected to dump 2-5 inches of rain in many places this week.
The highest elevations of northern California might get 10 inches of rain, forecasters said.
San Francisco could see 2 to 4 inches in the city with up to 8 inches in the hills. Southern California might get 1 to 2 inches with twice as much in the hilly areas.
That much rain may be more common, if you live along the Gulf or Atlantic Coasts, but for parched California, which researchers at the University of Nebraska say is the most drought stricken in the country, it’s a lot to handle at once.
And in many areas, it comes on top of high rains last week. The weather service warned there could be moderate river flooding in California and Washington.
Flooding possible
In the Bay Area on Tuesday, public works crews got ready for a downpour. A road crew vacuumed mud and trash out of a storm drain, CNN affiliate KTVU reported.
“This is not the most glamorous work that there is, even with equipment like this. This is still really hard work. Hard and dirty work but something that has to be done to make sure the system functions properly when we do have a big storm,” Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus told KTVU.
The Sheriff’s department in Solano County, which has a lot of waterfront land, is handing out sandbags to residents.
Bay Area power crews cut pine tree limbs hanging over power lines ahead of winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 70 mph.
Those howling winds will also drive in high surf up and down the West Coast, with some breakers rising 20 feet high.
They are expected to push up water levels in Washington’s Puget Sound, which could have residents of Seattle and Tacoma wading through shoreline puddles.
The area will live up to its reputation for sogginess, as about half a foot of rain is expected to fall between early Wednesday and late Thursday, the weather service predicts.
Nor’easter
The wet maker on in the Northeast looks more like a circular water sprinkler, spinning in moisture from the Atlantic, where it is clashing with cold air.
The nor’easter’s wet, cold misery — from chilly rain to snow and ice — have slushed the Northeast and will continue to as the gyrator drifts north through northern New England.
Syracuse, New York, should expect to see 2 inches of snow accumulate overnight Tuesday, another 8 on Wednesday and 3 more on Thursday.
The 6-10 inches of snow in Greenville Junction, Maine, on Wednesday will get a glazing of freezing rain more than once this week, the NWS predicts.
Winds will be high there, too, with gusts of 40 to 60 mph. They could cause coastal flooding in Maine.
Real rainmaker
There were reports of record rain on Tuesday from the New York metropolitan area with nearly 3 inches falling. At John F. Kennedy International Airport, 2.95 inches fell, the most on this date.
At LaGuardia Airport, where 2.65 inches fell, the delays at one point reached four hours.
According to the flight tracking website FlightAware.com, more than 2,600 flights departing from and/or landing in the United States were delayed Tuesday and 1,200 were canceled.
Heavy rain tapered off Tuesday evening, but some areas were still flooded, the New York office of the National Weather Service said. Flood warnings for three counties just north of Manhattan were issued.
Earlier, the pooling water kept motorists off the streets.
CNN’s Steve Almasy and Christina Zdanowicz contributed to this report.
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