It was a remarkable winter in the western United States between heavy snow and rain. Now that things have quieted down, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain discusses what s next.
It was a remarkable winter in the western United States between heavy snow and rain. Now that things have quieted down, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain discusses what s next.
know the heat s coming. all of the crops are completely flooded and ruined. so that s it takes a lot of jobs for people. that s a lot of food that provide we provide for up and down california. all around the nation. it s pretty scary. unfortunately this is just the beginning. right? because beginning the big melt hasn t even really begun. yes this is just from the rain. there s no mounts. there s nowhere for it to go. besides here. you know, larry lake is back for a while. it s back, and it may take over and put us out. camera, victor. i mean, i met young families like that one who considering moving, i met longtime seniors of corcoran, who frantically trying to buy flood insurance, which would have been laughable for the last 20 years. it s been so dusty around here but now you can see just a hint of why this is going to cost at least $2 billion to the agricultural
the sky. enough to bring a long dead lake back to life and drown over 150 square miles of farmland and counting. so now. they pray for the water to stop. it is mind blowing to realize. that if you d stood here for the last couple of generations, you d be watching the sunset over dusty fields of cotton or alfalfa or pistachio trees. and now it is waterfront property. i had no idea to larry lake. was once the biggest freshwater body west of the mississippi, but it was and diaper and drained to build a $2 billion agriculture industry. and now it s back. it s proof that water never forgets. and this may just be the beginning because behind those clouds over there, the sierra nevada s are so packed with snow. 260% above normal and sooner or later that s going to
few unknowns that is ucl, a scientist daniel swain, and last summer he published a paper that found whether whiplash will become only more extreme on an overheating planet. and worst case to larry lake could grow into a vast inland sea. that as disruptive and as damaging as this year s sledding has been, it s still nowhere near close to what we foresee as the plausible worst case scenario. the levee that we re standing on is called the corcoran levy. it s a 14.5 mile levee that protects the city of corcoran, the two state prisons, the residents here is about 22,000 residents and about 8000 inmates. and so the work behind us that you ll see over here with the tractor work in the distance there actually building the levee up another 4 to 5 ft. god willing, that will protect the city of corporate. there s a race against the melt. that s exactly right. right so we ve been fortunate with a very slow, mild spring so far, but we