For the past two weeks, atmospheric rivers have caused deadly, historic storms across the entire state of California, and the brutal weather is showing no signs of stopping. California residents continue to endure widespread flash flooding, pummeling winds, and heavy rainfall while state’s infrastructure is struggling to hold up under the harsh conditions. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency on Jan. 9, and there have been reports of widespread power outages, destroyed roadways, and flooded evacuation routes.
California typically experiences dry summers and wet winters that make the landscape perfect for tourism and a strong farm-based economy. But these characteristic weather patterns also make the California climate dangerously susceptible to “rapid shifts between drought and flood,” as climate scientists noted in a report published in the journal Nature Climate Change — especially as the intensifying effects of climate change take hold in the state. And while theoretically, California rain is a welcome respite from the state’s decades-long megadrought fueled by man-made climate change, the reality is the state simply can’t handle this much water at once (in part, ironically, because the drought dried out the soil to the point where it can’t absorb the excess rain, per Vox).
