What California’s deadly storms reveal about the state’s climate future

Climate change will intensify wet and dry periods in the Golden State

TOPSHOT - A vehicle drives on a flooded road in Sebastopol, California, on January 5, 2023. - Excessive rain, heavy snow and landslides are expected to wallop California through Thursday as a series of winter storms rip across the western US coast, prompting Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images) — Image: Getty Images

Jan 11th 2023|Los Angeles

FEW THINGS are as welcome in California as rain. Bemoan an overcast sky and you will inevitably get some version of “We need the moisture” in reply. But when it began to pour on New Year’s Eve, kicking off more than a week of storms and interrupting a three-year period of extreme drought, this felt like a release of biblical proportions. The usually placid Los Angeles river raced through its concrete channel towards the Pacific. About 1,000 trees around Sacramento, the state capital, toppled over. As of January 11th, at least 19 people had been killed by winter storms. More than 30m Californians were living under flood warnings. And more wet weather was on the way.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Mega-problems”