Is ‘weather whiplash’ our new normal?
When Kamie Loeser took over as the director of water and resource conservation in Butte County, in Northern California, she was immediately tasked with navigating a once-in-a-lifetime drought. It was October 2021. California had just seen its second-driest year on record, and Lake Oroville, a major reservoir in Butte County, was at its lowest level ever—just 22 percent of capacity. But by the end of that month, a “bomb cyclone” atmospheric river had dumped so much water that Lake Oroville’s surface level rose by 30 feet in one week. Parts of Northern California experienced their highest single-day rainfall ever recorded. … In less than three years on the job, Loeser has dealt with drought, flooding, and fire in quick and devastating succession. It’s a pattern repeating across California and around the world as climate change intensifies extreme weather and, increasingly, drives the rapid transition from one extreme weather event to another.
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