California’s weather patterns certainly have been unusual this winter, with the Sierra snowpack hitting record levels, massive flooding throughout the valleys, and slight smatterings of snow landing in such snow-averse places as Orange County. OK, some of my Southern California friends who have been joyfully posting “snow” pictures on Facebook perhaps don’t know the difference between snow and hail (or graupel) — but it’s been a particularly wet and cold season.
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“The Golden State has a long history of cataclysmic floods, which have occurred about every 200 to 400 years — most recently in the Great Flood of 1861-62,” according to Yale Climate Connections in late January. “[A] 2022 study found that, relative to a century ago, climate change has already doubled the risk of a present-day mega-storm, and more than tripled the risk of a trillion-dollar mega-flood of the type that could swamp the Central Valley.”
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Policymakers’ goal should be climate resilience — i.e., developing policies that help the state endure whatever weather happens. For instance, engaging in forest thinning and other productive policies that reduce raging wildfires would not only protect Californians, their property, and the state’s struggling insurance industry, but it would help meet emissions-reduction targets (although the state exempts wildfires from their calculations).
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