California Faces Climate Extremes

California Faces , Climate Extremes.

NBC reports that California has been struck by a series of powerful storms supercharged by atmospheric rivers since Christmas.

Those storms have been the cause of at least 17 deaths, mudslides, closed roads and hundreds of thousands of people experiencing power outages.

NBC reports that three more massive storms have been forecast for California in the coming days.

Despite the ongoing flooding, leaders in California are still preparing for the possibility of continued drought this summer in parts of the state.

California is experiencing — coincidentally — both a drought emergency and a flood emergency, Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, via NBC.

California is experiencing — coincidentally — both a drought emergency and a flood emergency, Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, via NBC.

NBC reports that the climate extremes in California have forced communities to balance dueling priorities.

We are in this constant tension.

You want to capture every drop you can.

However, these are multipurpose dams — they also have to do flood control.

To do flood control, you want dams as empty as possible, Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Water Policy Center of the Public Policy Institute of California, via NBC.

While it remains crucial to store water for hot, dry summers, some reservoirs have been forced to release rainwater in order to manage floods.

According to NBC, much of the rainfall that has fallen as a result of the atmospheric river storms will not be stored for later use in the summer.

The vast majority of the water on the land is running off.

There is no economically viable way to store it, Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Water Policy Center of the Public Policy Institute of California, via NBC