Ridiculously Resilient Ridge

The "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge", sometimes shortened to "Triple R" or "RRR", is the nickname given to a persistent anticyclone that occurred over the far northeastern Pacific Ocean, contributing to the 2011–2017 California drought.

The "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" nickname was originally coined in December 2013 by Daniel Swain on the Weather West Blog,[2] but has since been used widely in popular media[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] as well as in peer-reviewed scientific literature.

[10][1][11][12][13][14] The Ridiculously Resilient Ridge was characterized by a broad region of anomalously positive geopotential height on monthly to annual timescales.

[11] This anomalous atmospheric feature disrupted the North Pacific storm track during the winters of 2012–13, 2013–14, and 2014–15, resulting in extremely dry and warm conditions in California and along much of the West Coast.

[19][12] High amplitude atmospheric ridge patterns similar to the Triple R have occurred more frequently in recent decades[11] and there is evidence that the occurrence of persistent North Pacific geopotential height anomalies[10] and anomalously dry California winters,[20] will increase due to global warming, although uncertainty remains regarding the magnitude of these future changes.