Pineapple Express

As you all have heard, it's pretty crazy over in Seattle right now. Some friends of ours were at a Van Halen (with Diamond Dave) concert on Monday, and their hotel was partially flooded and the power was out. I-5, the major highway that connects Portland to Seattle to Vancouver has a 20-mile section south of Olympia, Wa. that is closed because of flooding. Mudslides, flooding, avalanches, hurricane-type winds, you name it. One guy on the news compared it to a typhoon. It's all part of something called the "Pineapple Express," a weather system that comes up from the south pacific, around Hawaii. Here is some information on this weather pattern and its effects:

Wikipedia

Satellite Photos of the pattern

News Story w/ a link to a slideshow of storm pics