Eli5: if a rain storm (in nor cal, an “atmospheric river”) drops 5 inches of rain in a day, where does the extra moisture come from to keep deluging places east with snow or rain?

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It seems like itd run out of steam, and since its so cold, theres minimal evaporation. Wheres the water come from?

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Some moisture makes it over the mountains. Not as much, but enough to snow on the Rockies, so long as there’s enough atmospheric forcing to condense the moisture into snow.