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Guest Essay By Larry Kummer. Posted at the Fabius Maximus website. Summary: To boost our fear, activists and journalists report the weather with amnesia about the past. Ten year records become astonishing events; weather catastrophes of 50 or 100 years ago are forgotten. It makes for good clickbait but cripples our ability to prepare for the inevitable. California’s history of floods and droughts gives a fine example — if we listen to the US Geological Survey’s reminder of past megafloods, and their warning of the coming ARkStorm. ” A 43-day storm that began in December 1861 put central and southern...

California has seen worse: massive floods have swept through the state about every 200 years for at least the past 2,000 years, climate scientists Michael Dettinger and Lynn Ingram recount in a 2013 article. The most recent was a series of storms that lasted for a near-biblical 43 days between 1861 and 1862, creating a vast lake where California’s Central Valley had been. Floodwaters drowned thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of cattle, and forced the state’s government to move from Sacramento to San Francisco. More than 150 years have passed since California’s last, great flood — and a team...

The storm producing torrential rain in coastal Southern California into Friday night will also threaten lives and property in the deserts of Arizona, California and Nevada this weekend. In a sense, the rainfall will be like a fast-moving tropical system. A general 1 to 3 inches of rain will fall with locally higher amounts over the south-facing slopes of the mountains into Saturday night. "Much of this rain may fall in a few hours' time, which is more than enough to cause significant runoff, flash and urban flooding due to the landscape in the region," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan...

The storm is expected to dump up to 6 inches of rain on Los Angeles County beaches and valleys and 5 to 10 inches on south-facing foothills and coastal mountain slopes, according to the National Weather Service . A flash flood watch has been issued for Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties from Friday morning through Saturday morning.

Race to save badly damaged California dam before MORE rainfall: Second storm is set to hit the tallest dam in America in 48 hours and could cause devastating 100ft deep flood that will leave 200,000 homeless  Authorities have said they want to lower the water level by at least 50 feet before storms arrive Wednesday There are fears the Oroville Dam could collapse and unleash flooding, leaving towns 100 foot underwaterNearly 200,000 residents evacuated in Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties in Northern California amid fearsThe average annual rainfall is about 31 inches, but since October, the area has seen 25 inches...

LOS ANGELES -- California residents evacuated neighborhoods below hillsides scarred by wildfires as the third - and largest - in the latest series of storms brought powerful rain Sunday and warnings about flash flooding and possible mudslides.  The National Weather Service warned that the system was expected to gain strength throughout the day and could be the strongest in at least seven years. Flash flood watches and warnings were in effect for swaths of greater Los Angeles, where mountain areas could see more than 2 inches of rain.  Authorities ordered evacuations near wildfire burn areas in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles...

The National Weather Service is warning that the storm hitting Southern California on Sunday could be the strongest since 2010, prompting at least two cities in burn-scarred areas to issue evacuation notices in advance of heavy rain, flooding and possible mudslides. Light rain was falling across the region Sunday morning, with more intense rain expected as the day progresses. The heaviest rain was expected Sunday afternoon and evening.

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The second storm in a series of three struck the Southland Friday, bringing heavy rain, high winds, high surf and a risk of thunderstorms and waterspouts. Friday's storm will be the coldest of the three, and its heaviest rainfall will occur during daytime hours, according to the National Weather Service. A flash flood advisory was issued for site of the Fish Fire in Duarte and the Sand Fire in Santa Clarita until 4:45 p.m. Friday for fear that rain could trigger flows of mud and debris down slopes stripped bare in wildfires. There is a significant...

The forecast has become more certain that Friday is going to be cloudy, damp and cool for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony and the subsequent parade. Given the crowds and tight security at the event, we’re recommending raincoats and ponchos instead of umbrellas — even for the nonticketed areas. If you’re heading downtown Friday, expect temperatures to be in the 40s. The high looks like it will be in the upper 40s — maybe 50 degrees on the nose — but that’s not going to feel warm with showers and gray, cloudy skies. Dress warmly with a waterproof outer layer,...

After a half-decade of drought, California has been buffeted this winter by a series of powerful rain and snowstorms that dumped countless billions of gallons of water on the state’s watersheds. Some of the deluge was captured in the form of mountain snows that will feed rivers and streams during the annual spring melt. But at lower elevations, it was rain, some retained in man-made reservoirs that had become seriously depleted, but most flowing swiftly to the Pacific Ocean. At one point last week, flows on the Sacramento River and its American River tributary were more than 130,000 cubic feet...

A weekend rainstorm that drenched Southern California and triggered hundreds of freeway crashes will disappear by the afternoon and make way for cool, autumn weather on Thanksgiving, the National Weather Service said Monday. Over Sunday and Monday, the storm dumped more than two inches of rain in San Luis Obispo County and more than an inch at Brentwood’s Getty Center in Los Angeles County, where a surge in car crashes left freeways intermittently jammed, authorities said.

Hillary Clinton’s only scheduled rally Saturday in Florida was cut short by heavy rain. Clinton’s speech only lasted about seven minutes, and she yelled hoarsely as rain poured. Donald Trump is criss-crossing the nation Saturday and holding four events in battleground states.

It has mystified historians ever since. After a string of major victories, the Mongol army suddenly retreated from central Europe in 1242. Some scholars claim Mongolian politics forced the withdrawal, while others credit the strength of fortified towns in present-day Hungary and Croatia. But Europe could have been rescued by its own bad weather, an analysis of tree rings and historical documents concludes. The Mongol cavalry fed its horses on the grass of the Eurasian steppe, says Nicola Di Cosmo of Princeton University, one of the study’s authors. A warm climate in the early 1200s helped make the grasslands lush...

Who is blocking 29 million in Los Angeles from getting water, and why Despite some nice rainfall this year, the more than two dozen State Water Contractors throughout the state have been told to expect 45 percent water allocations. A recent Daily Democrat article said 100 percent water supply is probably not even possible for many areas, and estimated that 60-70 percent of water supplies through the two state aqueducts could be as good as it gets. Special: Christie Brinkley's New Wrinkle Remover! 15 Years Younger For $5 While recent rain has helped greatly, state water officials say it’s not...

Rounds of heavy rain will heighten the risk of flooding and mudslides across California as storms persistently roll ashore into the second week of March. Rain bypassed the state during most of February, but a shift in the weather pattern will steer storms into the California coast this weekend and into next week. "Storms will usher in moderate to heavy rain across California and heavy snow to the Sierra Nevada [through Monday]," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rathbun stated. Over half a foot of rain could fall across northern California. Snow levels will fall throughout the weekend, allowing feet of snow to...

Severe Weather Alerts - Charlotte, NC Areal Flood Watch Areal Flood Watch in effect until Thursday, 7:00 AM EST. Source: U.S. National Weather Service ...FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING... THE FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR * PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA...NORTH CAROLINA AND UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS...IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA...ELBERT...FRANKLIN...HABERSHAM...HART...RABUN AND STEPHENS. IN NORTH CAROLINA...CABARRUS...CLEVELAND...EASTERN POLK...GASTON...GREATER RUTHERFORD...HENDERSON...LINCOLN... MACON...MECKLENBURG...POLK MOUNTAINS...RUTHERFORD MOUNTAINS... SOUTHERN JACKSON...TRANSYLVANIA AND UNION. IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...ABBEVILLE...ANDERSON...CHEROKEE...CHESTER...GREATER GREENVILLE...GREATER OCONEE...GREATER PICKENS...GREENVILLE MOUNTAINS...GREENWOOD...LAURENS...OCONEE MOUNTAINS...PICKENS MOUNTAINS...SPARTANBURG...UNION AND YORK. * THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING * VERY WET SOILS AND ELEVATED STREAM AND RIVER LEVELS AROUND THE REGION HAVE PRIMED THE AREA FOR...

In a state where four out of five traffic improvement projects bust their original deadlines, Florida transportation officials expect to beat the odds with one of the largest jobs ever undertaken in the Sarasota-Manatee region. Construction of the state’s first diverging diamond interchange at Interstate 75 and University Parkway, which began Aug. 3 and is set for two years, will end before the September 2017 World Rowing Championships draw tens of thousands of visitors to nearby Nathan Benderson Park, state officials promise. But the timeline leaves Prince Contracting, the Tampa-based company that won the $74.5 million contract, just one month...

Widespread flooding and landslides in north-east Japan have forced more than 90,000 people to abandon their homes. The city of Joso, north of the capital, Tokyo, was hit by a wall of water after the Kinugawa River burst its banks. Helicopter rescue teams have been plucking people from rooftops.

The trend is significantly increasing the chances that storms will drench California this winter, according to a new report released by federal scientists. They say conditions are lining up in ways not seen since the winter of 1997-98, when downpours filled reservoirs and sent rivers raging during the last major El Niño.The chances are now “greater than 90 percent” that El Niño conditions that began in March will remain through this winter, according to the monthly El Niño report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_28458401/california-drought-el-nino-weather-event-is-biggest Thanks to Marcus Muraca for this link. “It is interesting to note the...

all traffic on both sides of the highway was closed. The westbound side of the freeway remained intact, but officers had stopped traffic while they tested its stability. A pair of small nearby highways that could possibly serve as detours were also closed. ... The showers forced the Los Angeles Angels' first rainout in 20 years and the San Diego Padres' first rainout since 2006. Saturday's rainfall broke records in at least 11 locations, including five places that had the most rain ever recorded on any day in July, Sirard said. July is typically the driest month of the year...