It never rains in Southern California, but the past few days have been anything but clear skies. Despite February regularly being Los Angeles’s wettest month, climate change is often the scapegoat for any weather outside of business-as-usual. Todd Richards teaches digital media at USC... He attributes the excessive puddles to a different culprit, though.
Todd Richards: While climate change definitely plays a role in events like this, there is a something on top of that right now that’s happening that, that is as much or more responsible for what we’re seeing. And that is El Nino.
El Nino occurs every 3 to 7 years... The phenomenon warms the Pacific Ocean. Since we’re in a coastal region here, the effects are prominent... in Los Angeles County.
Richards: This is a very strong El Nino year. El Nino has been around much longer than we’ve been talking about warming of the planet and climate change.
USC’s Todd Richards does say that climate change can exacerbate the expected El Nino weather.
Richards: Warming air and warming oceans leads to heavier rain. Events. It just it just does. That’s just the science of it. And we know the air is warming. We know the oceans are warming. And, and so we can expect more of the same, to come.
Unfortunately, Los Angeles lacks much of the infrastructure needed to handle to such weather. The National Weather Service is sending out multiple flash flood warnings in the last few days... stating that the Los Angeles area is in a “dangerous and life-threatening situation,” recommending only necessary travel. Richards agrees.
Todd Richards: Our streets are not necessarily built for conditions like this. And so, that makes it that much worse. The streets aren’t built for these conditions, and I’m not sure the residents are necessarily built for these conditions either, which makes it, challenging for them as well.
Julien Emile-Geay: It usually basically grows and dies in the span of about a year.
USC Climate Professor Julien Emile-Geay assures us that the dreary El Nino days we’re living with now are soon coming to a close.
Emile-Geay: This particular event started really last spring or summer. And it’s now basically peaking. And it’s meant to, you know, alter the forecast or saying that it’s basically going to decay, in the next few months. So, we don’t expect its effects to be felt much beyond the summer.
With El Nino’s decay around the corner, staying dry and warm will become much easier. Didn’t that groundhog tell us that Spring was on its way?
For Annenberg Media, this is Sarah Arencibia.