(WGHP) – After an incredibly wet start to the week in California, rain is finally coming to an end.

The Pineapple Express, also known as an atmospheric river, has been pumping moisture into Southern California for the last few days bringing about long periods of rainfall leading to flooding and infrastructure damage. 

According to NOAA, the Pineapple Express is a narrow region of moisture that builds up in the tropical Pacific. It is a type of atmospheric river, a river of moisture in the upper levels of the atmosphere, that occurs when moisture builds up in the tropical Pacific near Hawaii. The “river” then brings the excess moisture to the west coasts of the U.S. and Canada leading to widespread heavy rain and snow.  

Since Saturday, Downtown Los Angeles has received 8.66 inches of rain which is nearly 2.5 times their February normal in only four days. 

According to the National Weather Service Los Angeles, nearly half of the yearly rainfall for Los Angeles fell over two days, Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, with both days also setting daily rainfall records.

If the Triad received half of our yearly rainfall in two days, it would amount to 21.68 inches. The entire Triad would be underwater, and we’d probably need boats to get around.

On Feb. 4, Los Angeles received 4.10 inches of rainfall, smashing the previous daily rainfall record of 2.55 inches from 1927.  

Downtown Los Angeles received 2.93 inches on Monday, Feb. 5, passing the previous record of 2.30 inches from 1901. 

This is the highest two-day rainfall total in February in Los Angeles. It completely surpassed the previous record of 6.02 inches of rain on Feb. 24-25, 1913. 

The large amounts of rainfall led to flooding, especially considering most of Los Angeles’s infrastructure is not built to handle rain. 

Along the coast, cliffs were eroded from the continued rainfall. Mudslides, rockslides, and landslides were also common occurrences this week. 

While parts of California are still experiencing rain on Wednesday, it is no longer due to an atmospheric river but a faster-moving storm system. 

The majority of the rain from Wednesday’s low-pressure system is falling in Northern California which was less impacted by the atmospheric river.

By Thursday, sunshine and dry conditions are expected to return to the Golden State.