This from NOAA
"Atmospheric rivers are fairly common in winter in the Western United States. In fact, just a few atmospheric river events each year cause up to half of the annual precipitation on the West Coast. These dumps of rain and snow from atmospheric rivers are an important source of fresh water for the West Coast."
"Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics."
Hence, the reason why they are so often used by weather media-because they happen a lot.
It's a real term to describe a real and common event.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2023 08:05PM by waterfield.
