A pair of powerful atmospheric river events brought heavy precipitation across much of coastal California this week, resulting in record rainfall totals, extensive flooding, numerous landslides, hurricane-force winds, and power outages. These types of atmospheric river events that impact the U.S. West Coast are also known as the “Pineapple Express” due to their transport of moisture up from the Tropics originating around Hawaii. The first event had the greatest impact on northern and central California. It was initiated when a large low-pressure trough located in the northeast Pacific

In mid-December 2023, the far north region of Australia’s Queensland state experienced heavy precipitation and flooding as a result of Tropical Cyclone Jasper, which made landfall on December 13 north of the town of Port Douglas. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center began issuing bulletins on Jasper on December 5 as it developed into a tropical depression over the Western South Pacific Ocean. By December 7, Jasper had strengthened to a Category 4-equivalent cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale as it tracked southwestward. By the time it made landfall on December 13, Jasper’s winds had weakened back