Weather tracker: why is it so cold in California at the moment?

Precipitation has made western US very cold and wet, with one ski lodge declaring snowiest season on record

Over recent months there has been a recurring theme in weather news about how wet and unsettled western parts of the US have been, particularly in the normally sunny state of California.

This has been caused by frequent atmospheric rivers funnelling into western North America, and a recent analysis by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that over the course of this water year (1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023) 31 atmospheric river events have affected the west coast so far.