Atmospheric River Storms and West Coast Flooding

The Desert Research Institute has recently published a study reviewing 43,000 atmospheric river storms across 122 watersheds on the West Coast of the U.S between 1980 and 2023.  They found that "flood peaks were 2-4.5 times higher, on average, when soils were already wet."  The key takeaway point is that the severity of flooding depends not only on the magnitude of these storms, but also the character of the soils and the degree of moisture saturation of these soils when the storm begins.  For more detail, read their report: https://www.dri.edu/wet-soils-increase-flooding-during-atmospheric-river-storms/