edu.ucar.opensky::articles:43296 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-24T17:52:58.954173 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7d2232f Opposing trends in winter Atmospheric River over the Western and Eastern US during the past four decades 2025-03-29T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7d2232f https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00998-x Dong, Wenhao author Zhao, M. author Tan, Z. author Ramaswamy, V. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher <p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);color:rgb(34, 34, 34);display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:-apple-system, &quot;system-ui&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Winter atmospheric rivers (ARs) are crucial for water supply and extreme weather events over the western (WUS) and eastern US (EUS), yet their long-term trends and interplay remain unclear. Here we fill this gap by analyzing multiple observational AR products over the past four decades. Contrasting yet interrelated trends emerge in AR frequency, intensity, and associated mean precipitation. A decline in AR activity over WUS contributes to a drying trend, while notable increases over EUS foster a wetter climate. These trends are driven by large-scale atmospheric and oceanic variability in the Pacific, which strengthens anticyclonic circulation patterns near both coasts. These anticyclonic patterns, however, have opposing effects–impeding ARs from steering to WUS while facilitating their development over EUS. Our findings present a unified explanation for the observed AR trends and have co-beneficial implications for mitigating concerns related to AR-induced extreme events across both densely populated coastal regions.</span></p> UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication <span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;font-style:normal;" data-sheets-root="1">Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</span> None eng geoscientificInformation