美国国家公共电台 NPR--A weather system known as an atmospheric river hits the West Coast

A weather system known as an atmospheric¹ river hits the West Coast

Transcript²

National Weather Service senior forecaster Bob Oravec talks to NPR's A Martinez about a weather system that is pounding the West Coast with heavy rain, winds and snow.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

While much of the country is still digging out from a historic arctic blast, the U.S. West Coast is facing a different kind of weather challenge, heavy rains. It's part of a weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river that can drench³ low lying areas with rain and bring snow to elevated zones, all accompanied by high winds. For more detail, I spoke⁴ to Bob Oravec of the National Weather Service and began by asking him exactly what an atmospheric river is.

BOB ORAVEC: It's just a narrow area of high moisture that gets transported away from the tropics towards the higher latitudes⁵. And it's usually ahead of cold fronts. And a lot of times in the winter, it impacts the West Coast and is actually responsible for a good majority of the rainfall during the colder season, which is the season when they get most of their rain.

MART?NEZ: So what's been some of the damage and impact from this weather phenomenon on the West Coast?

ORAVEC: Well, a lot of times, it's very beneficial. Obviously, we've all heard the - you know, the prolonged drought along the West - across a good part of the West Coast. So we've had an atmospheric river that just ended recently produce a lot of heavy precipitation, higher elevation⁶ snows. And as we go forward over the next week, it looks like we're going to have several more opportunities for additional atmospheric rivers to affect the West Coast, especially the Thursday to Saturday timeframe, when we expect at least some large areas of the Sierra and Northern California to receive over five inches of precipitation.

MART?NEZ: But isn't that part of the problem, the drought in that - the ground is so dry that it doesn't actually suck in the moisture, and all of a sudden we've got mudslides and all kinds of awful things?

ORAVEC: Yeah, it's a vicious cycle across the West. A lot of times you get drought, you get fires, you know, you lose a lot of the groundcover that helps retain the moisture. And then when it does rain again, you get the mudslides. So yeah, it's never a nice, gentle rain across the West Coast. A lot of times in the winter, you know, the precipitation events are very heavy. So you do have the threat - when it's not falling as snow, you do have the threat of that rainfall running off and causing some issues with flash flooding.

MART?NEZ: But considering that California does need the rain, I mean, should we just kind of take the good with the bad on this?

ORAVEC: Yeah. You almost have to accept that atmospheric rivers are a part of the normal cycle of rainfall. And you definitely need them. You know, we're in a period now where it looks fairly favorable for the next week or so to get, as I said, several atmospheric river events. We may end up with over 15 inches of total precipitation over the next week or so, especially through the Sierra and parts of Northern California. So it's going to make somewhat of a dent⁷ in the prolonged drought that they are experiencing.

MART?NEZ: Wow, 15 inches. That's a lot of rain.

ORAVEC: Yeah. Well, some of that will be falling as snow at the higher elevations⁸.

MART?NEZ: OK.

ORAVEC: But either way, it's very beneficial.

MART?NEZ: And one more thing really quick - I mean, this blast has caused major travel disruptions elsewhere in the country. So how badly has the atmospheric river affected⁹ holiday travel on the West Coast?

ORAVEC: You know, it hasn't been as impactful as some of the other - you know, we just got out of a very cold pattern across, you know, a huge part of the country. And that was probably more problematic with respect to travel than the atmospheric river. Obviously, any time you get rainfall, high winds that affect any airport, you're going to have issues with travel.

MART?NEZ: Yeah.

ORAVEC: But the whole - overall scope of it, it hasn't been as large as what occurred across the central and eastern U.S. region.

MART?NEZ: That's Bob Oravec, senior forecaster at the National Weather Service.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOONCAKE'S "CAST THE ROUTE")

1 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 drench   

v.使淋透，使湿透

参考例句：

• He met a drench of rain.他遇上一场倾盆大雨。
• They turned fire hoses on the people and drenched them.他们将消防水管对着人们，把他们浇了个透。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 latitudes   

纬度

参考例句：

• Latitudes are the lines that go from east to west. 纬线是从东到西的线。
• It was the brief Indian Summer of the high latitudes. 这是高纬度地方的那种短暂的晚秋。

6 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

7 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

8 elevations   

（水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升

参考例句：

• Weight of the crust changes as elevations are eroded and materials are deposited elsewhere. 当高地受到侵蚀，物质沉积到别的地方时，地壳的重量就改变。
• All deck elevations are on the top of structural beams. 所有甲板标高线均指结构梁顶线。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。