Time-Lapse Video Shows Atmospheric River Pummel California

A time-lapse video shows precipitation pummeling Northern California just days after the state faced three back-to-back storms that dumped several inches of rain.

California was hit with the trio of storms in less than a week, and now heavy rain and wind are forecast for the Pacific Northwest, including Northern California, through Tuesday. The storm is reminiscent of the deluge of rainfall that wiped out California's drought last winter, when more than a dozen atmospheric rivers struck the state.

The time-lapse video, published Monday on X (formerly Twitter), shows that California will have a brief spate of dry weather before more precipitation hits the northern part of the state beginning Thursday night and into Friday. A larger pocket of precipitation is forecast to move into the state's northern half by next week.

"Did someone say Atmospheric River?" X user @joeycrist_WX wrote when posting the video. Atmospheric rivers are narrow channels in the atmosphere that can carry a large amount of moisture.

The incoming storms are posed to further saturate the state, which recently emerged from drought for the first time in three years. California was expected to get between 4 and 8 inches of rain in the upper northeastern part of the state from the first three storms that came to an end on Tuesday.

The most recent slew of storms targeted extreme northwestern California with rainfall, but AccuWeather meteorologist Scott Homan said the incoming systems will stretch further south into the Bay Area.

"The extreme northwest did pick up some substantial rainfall," Homan told Newsweek, referencing the recent storms. "As we head into Tuesday [November 14], another storm system moving through portions of California will bring heavier rainfall farther south."

Following next week's storm, another band of moisture will hit Northern California next Wednesday night into Thursday.

November's rainfall totals in California have already proved beneficial to the dry areas in the northwest.

A few "abnormally dry" regions remain in California, according to the most recent update to the U.S. Drought Monitor Map, and the back-to-back storms will likely remedy the dry soil.

"It's a very beneficial event," AccuWeather meteorologist Joseph Bauer previously told Newsweek.

An abnormally wet winter last year eliminated much of California's drought. It was a La Niña year, which made the wet season an anomaly. El Niño is known for its above-average precipitation in the winter but not La Niña. However, an El Niño year doesn't guarantee excess moisture in Southern California.

"Take for example 2015-16, where we were in an El Niño and everyone in Central and Southern California had below-average precipitation," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Paul Pastelok previously told Newsweek.