From Scripps Institute of Oceanography

Atmospheric Rivers – Scripps scientists are leading efforts to understand how California and other western states get their precipitation. A multi-agency field campaign known as CalWater2 is yielding first-of-its-kind information about atmospheric rivers, focused channels of precipitation that deliver up to half of California’s water in brief, torrential storms. The multi-year CalWater campaign aims to understand to understand atmospheric river behavior and to probe how aerosol particles from different sources influence clouds and precipitation processes.

These 'atmospheric rivers' used to be called El Nino, La Nina, Pineapple Express. Agencies and agendas are no trying to confuse the masses.

From the trenches,
Celeste