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Atmospheric rivers are vital to western water supplies, yet until very recently they were poorly understood: difficult to predict and measure, and very hard for scientists to estimate where they would make landfall. These are often erroneously called “pineapple express” storms, a term that applies to only a subset of atmospheric river events that originate near Hawaii. Most atmospheric river storms begin in the more distant tropical ocean and develop into a narrow band of strong winds that funnel huge quantities of moisture toward the West Coast of the United States.

Travel in the upper foothills and mountains is expected to be seriously affected Friday as a snowstorm blankets the Sierra Nevada. Whiteout or near-whiteout conditions are predicted in the mountains until the National Weather Service’s winter storm warning expires at 11 p.m. Friday. Homewood Mountain Resort and Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows each reported 16 inches of snow Wednesday, bringing them up to 34 and 28 inches, respectively, since the first of two storms began Monday night. Kirkwood, Tahoe Donner and Sierra-at-Tahoe have reported 2 feet of so far this week.

As part of his final budget proposal, Gov. Jerry Brown wants new fees on water to provide clean and affordable drinking water to the approximately 1 million Californians who are exposed to contaminated water in their homes and communities each year. The fund would pay for short- and long-term improvements to water infrastructure and help clean up contaminated drinking water systems that affect primarily rural, low-income regions. The fund would rely on fees paid by residential and commercial water users as well as fertilizer and dairy producers.

In a water-stressed world, there’s a powerful business case for companies to manage this essential resource sustainably, engage in water stewardship and drive collective action. As a shared resource, water provides diminished benefits to all if each user acts only in their own self-interest. Addressing today’s wicked water problems – including droughts, dwindling groundwater and failing infrastructure – will require coordinated, collective responses. Companies across sectors, nonprofits, disclosure initiatives, industry associations and investor groups recognize this challenge and have responded with a range of water stewardship frameworks – in fact there are now more than 10 corporate water stewardship frameworks.