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The Whiplash Effect of Extreme Flooding and Droughts
How places like California can prepare for growing threats of droughts and floods exacerbated by climate change
The climate amplification of extreme weather
My friends and I were driving back from Yosemite National Park just as the atmospheric rivers were beginning to make their way across California. Visibility was terrible and the roads were treacherous as we passed several cars that had hydroplaned out of control causing severe accidents in some cases.
As we were driving, I remember thinking that in the fall of 2021, I was speaking with a colleague about how if we didn’t receive decent rainfall that winter, some parts of the Bay Area could potentially run out of water by the summer. Luckily, that didn’t happen. But things still got pretty dire.
Last summer, we were bombarded with headlines about how Lake Mead and several other reservoirs had reached historic lows. The reservoir levels had become so low that people were finding old sunken ships and human remains from decades ago.
The Colorado River, which supplies water to over 40 million people, has also slowly been drying up after decades-long droughts. And as the river dries up, so will the…