California is known for sunshine, palm trees, and beautiful oceans.

Of course, that abundant sunshine was absent recently due to almost a week’s worth of rain.

Record amounts of rainfall caused flooding, mudslides, and evacuation orders for several neighborhoods.

A state of emergency was declared in several counties, as widespread flash flooding occurred.

Thus far it has been the 10th wettest year in southern California since records were first kept starting over 120 years ago. 

Place the blame on a phenomenon called “The Pineapple Express”.

The Pineapple Express gets its name from the build-up of moisture in the tropical Pacific around Hawaii.

The Express then wallops the U.S. and Canada’s west coasts with heavy rainfall and snow.  

These types of storms produce atmospheric rivers that occur once or twice a decade, and the major ones can carry as much as 10 to 15 inches of rain.

The most recent storm caused at least 18 fatalities, 120 mudslides, and many power outages.

Repairing the damage will cost at least 1 billion dollars.

This storm is a demonstration of how climate change is completely altering normal weather systems.

As global temperatures begin to warm and the rate of evaporation increases, the water cycle speeds up, leading to more evaporation and ultimately increased precipitation.

When more moisturized air moves over land or bounds into a storm system, it can produce intense precipitation/rainfall.

The Pineapple Express is something that, naturally, should not be occurring so often.

However, changing weather patterns are impacting the atmosphere, and the consequences are becoming quite apparent.