The Rain in California Is Mind-Boggling

To say that it's pouring rain in California is a vast understatement. The state is dealing with a weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river for the second straight day—on the heels of an earlier one last week. Which might explain why the National Weather Service in Los Angeles is using red exclamation points to warn people in the Hollywood Hills of an "extremely dangerous situation unfolding." Flooding, power outages, landslides, and rockslides are being reported. Snippets from coverage:

• The NWS predicted "14 inches of rain could fall on Monday in parts of Southern California, potentially matching Los Angeles' average annual rainfall total—14 inches—in a single day," per the New York Times.

• On Sunday, downtown Los Angeles got 4.1 inches of rain, a record for the day and the city's 10th wettest day on record for any time of year, per the Los Angeles Times. Sunday's rainfall exceeded the city's average monthly total of 3.64 inches, per NBC Los Angeles. What's more, the rain is forecast to continue through Monday and Tuesday.
• About 14 million people are under "high risk" for excessive rainfall. "Typically in the US, high-risk days only make up about 4% of all days—but they account for 80% of all flood damage," per CNN. "Statistically speaking, the odds of back-to-back days being ... high risk is about one in a thousand." The story reports that El Nino is a factor this year, but that atmospheric rivers are projected to grow more common amid warming global temperatures.
• "Atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and can produce torrential amounts of rain as they move over land," per the AP. This one stretches back to near Hawaii, resulting in its "Pineapple Express" name. In Southern California, the weather system has essentially parked itself over the coastal and valley areas.
• The Weather Channel notes the first storm-related death, that of a man killed Sunday by a falling redwood tree in Yuba City.

(More atmospheric river stories.)