Study Finds Extreme Weather Risk Increases in California

A new study, published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, found that as global warming leads to increased water vapor the risk of extreme weather events in California significantly increases. The study found that a mega-storm is likely to hit the state at least once in the next 40 years and twice in the next 80. Daniel Swain, climate scientist at UCLA and the lead author of the study, warns that extreme drought-to-flood swings are likely to increase in coming years.

“All of our wet wints and big flood events are due to atmospheric rivers,” Swain said. “What are they but big plumes of water vapor moving toward the coast? As we increase the amount of water vapor, the intensity increases.”

Major drought-to-flood swings have occurred on average four times a century in California, but are expected to double to eight times this century in Southern California and six times in Northern California. Groundwater management will be key to managing future storms, according to The Mercury News. By routing storm water runoff and treated wastewater back into aquifers, groundwater has an opportunity to recharge and also stores excess water. 

“Protecting groundwater is going to become more important,” Jay Lund, director of  the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis said. “That is by far the largest storage we have. That will always be the case no matter how many reservoirs we have.”