Photo of the Week: Scripps in the Sky
Studying atmospheric rivers by flying through them
A U.S. Air Force WC-130J “Hurricane Hunter” at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento prepares for a mission to collect data from an atmospheric river. Since January, Air Force flight teams and scientists on NOAA aircraft have flown through the moisture-bearing cloud formations to understand their characteristics. Roughly half of California’s water supply comes from atmospheric river storms. Photo: U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Victoria Kinman