“Hot’s getting a lot hotter,” Newsom said. “Dry’s getting a lot dryer. But the wet’s getting a lot wetter, as well.” — The weather’s getting more weathery? It’s as if the wonder gas carbon dioxide can do anything, even at a tiny atmospheric concentration of 0.04%. Of course severe weather is a serious matter for those concerned, but the amazing power of CO2 is beyond belief /sarc!
– – –
Newsom said climate change is to blame for the increase in the number of atmospheric rivers and intensity, reports Fox News.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced during a press conference on Sunday that he is requesting a state of emergency from the White House as another round of storms targets the Golden State this week.
Severe storms in California knocked out power to over 560,000 homes on Sunday.
Along with power outages, the state has faced several days of severe weather events and two more are scheduled to occur this week. The first storm is expected to begin Monday and go into the early morning hours on Tuesday, and the second storm will occur from Jan. 12-14.
“We’ve been at this how many days and expect to see the worst of it still in front of us,” Newsom said. “We’re anticipating some very intense weather coming in tomorrow, tomorrow evening in particular, into the early hours of Tuesday morning.”
The governor and his team referred to these storms as atmospheric rivers, or storms that dump massive amounts of rain, causing flooding, mudslides, property damage and the loss of life.
In fact, 12 people have died because of flooding during atmospheric river events according to Newsom, making them more deadly than wildfires over the last two years.
. . .
Newsom said he has been in contact with the White House to discuss federal assistance with these storms, and that he was ready to make a formal request on Sunday. He added that he was confident he would get the full support of the federal government.
He also said the intensity of these atmospheric rivers are not only increasing but are also the result of climate change.
“Hot’s getting a lot hotter,” Newsom said. “Dry’s getting a lot dryer. But the wet’s getting a lot wetter, as well.”
Full report here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
[…] From Tallbloke’s Talkshop […]
Adviser: ‘Permanent droughts are becoming, er . . . . . less permanent?’
Newsom: ‘No, I can’t say that, it sounds stupid. Let’s just stick with dry becoming drier, hot becoming hotter and wet becoming wetter. That sounds a lot more sensible.’
More water storage capacity for those wetter periods might be an idea 🤔
Likely more effective than state government trying to change the weather.
“several days of severe weather events and two more are scheduled”
How? Why?
January 8, 2023 2:02pm EST
The next round of heavy rain has moved into Northern California and will continue during the day on Sunday, but the FOX Forecast Center is tracking another series of atmospheric river storms that will bring several more inches of rain and damaging wind to the Golden State this week.
And in an ominous warning from the National Weather Service, people in California are being advised to stay current with weather forecasts over the next several days as there is a “direct threat to life and property” from these upcoming storms.
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/atmospheric-river-flash-flooding-damaging-wind-california
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A month ago:
Nation’s Largest Water Supplier Declares Drought Emergency
The nation’s largest water supplier has declared a drought emergency for all of Southern California, clearing the way for potential mandatory water restrictions early next year that could impact 19 million people.
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/us-news/nations-largest-water-supplier-declares-drought-emergency-articleshow.html
Reblogged this on Climate Collections.
Should the global warming restore the 1862 situation, His Governorship Newsom would have to commute to work in a boat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1862
‘The governor, state legislature, and state employees were not paid for a year and a half.’ – 1862 flood link.
And no ’emissions’ and SUV owners to vilify.
JANUARY 9, 2023
How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts as epic atmospheric river rainfall drains into the Pacific
Why isn’t California capturing more runoff now?
When California gets storms like the atmospheric rivers that hit in December 2022 and January 2023, water managers around the state probably shake their heads and ask why they can’t hold on to more of that water. The reality is, it’s a complicated issue.
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-california-ease-future-droughts-epic.html
– – –
JANUARY 9, 2023
Why is drought-weary Los Angeles letting stormwater flow into the Pacific Ocean?
Though a few regional watersheds, such as the Upper San Gabriel River, have good soils and systems for capturing stormwater, they are few and far between, with the vast majority of water that comes to the region “on a superhighway to get out,” said Reznik.
“Water is the most precious resource we have, something that we cannot live without, and yet we do everything we can, when it comes to rain, to get rid of it as soon as possible,” he said.
. . .
The state’s last big funding bill allotted far more to sectors such as transportation than to water, she said, which “tells you how, as a society, we view water—it’s out of sight, out of mind until there’s a catastrophe.”
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-drought-weary-los-angeles-stormwater-pacific.html
I thought they were now in permanent drought due to climate change?
But of course not. It’s now the usual natural variability but just a bit more.
Texas thought it had a ‘megadrought’ going on, a few years back – until the floods arrived.
https://thevane.gawker.com/texas-decade-long-megadrought-put-on-hold-while-texas-f-1704293654
(May 2015)
Millions at risk of flooding as fierce storm lashes California
Published 2 hours ago
The National Weather Service (NWS) has described it as “the most impressive storm since January 2005”.
. . .
“An enormous cyclone” is developing off the coast, officials said.
. . .
Around 90% of Californians – some 34 million people in the most-populous US state – are under flood watch, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64213900
Giant sinkhole swallows cars in California during deadly US storms
11 January 2023
Experts said the growing frequency and intensity of such storms, interspersed with extreme heat and dry spells, are symptoms of climate change. Though the rain and snow will help replenish reservoirs and aquifers, a mere two weeks of precipitation will not solve two decades of drought.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/11/least-17-confirmed-dead-california-storms-evacuees-face-sinkholes/
– – –
‘Symptoms of climate change’? Well, they would say that – but saying it proves nothing. They would at least have to show it had never happened before, to have any hope at all of implicating human activities.
“Atmospheric rivers” Would that be a succession of weather fronts in old money?
According to a May 14, 2019 article in San Jose, California’s The Mercury News, atmospheric rivers, “giant conveyor belts of water in the sky”, cause the moisture-rich “Pineapple Express” storm systems that come from the Pacific Ocean several times annually and account for about 50 percent of California’s annual precipitation.[36][37] University of California at San Diego’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes’s director Marty Ralph, who is one of the United States’ experts on atmospheric river storms and has been active in AR research for many years, said that atmospheric rivers are more common in winter. For example, from October 2018 to spring 2019, there were 47 atmospheric rivers, 12 of which were rated strong or extreme, in Washington, Oregon and California.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_river#United_States
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‘from October 2018 to spring 2019, there were 47 atmospheric rivers’ = about one every 4 days on average.
Newsom Announces Cuts To Climate Change Funding Over $25B Deficit
JAN 12, 2023
https://climatechangedispatch.com/newsom-announces-cuts-to-climate-change-funding-over-25b-deficit/
Less money to be wasted on ‘climate ambitions’, whatever they are.
If the Californian people want to blame ANYTHING, they should note that most of the “unprecedented weather” came during Democratic Party government!