Drought, fires, floods: Californians manage amid ‘weather whiplash’
As Wallace Stegner, “the dean of Western writers,” once observed, California is like the rest of America, only more so. It’s a reference to the state’s character, but it could just as easily apply to its weather. Extreme wildfires. Prolonged drought. And now, massive rain and flooding. In a surprise pummeling, along with the new year has come an unusually large number of powerful, back-to-back atmospheric rivers: narrow bands through the atmosphere that carry water vapor. They have flowed the length of the state – and blown destruction eastward across the United States. In the Golden State, they’re dumping rainfall that’s 400% to 600% above average in some places, forcing mass evacuations, closing highways, shutting down power, and killing 19 people.
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