California Climate:Heat, Drought, Flood, Lightning, & Fire w/ Dr. Michael Anderson

In this episode, we explore California’s dynamic and shifting climate, which impacts so much across the Bay area, region, and state, including our weather, our water, our land, our crops, our snowpack, and our air.

Just during the past few weeks, we have seen an intense heat wave and spectacular and devastating lightning storms that sparked hundreds of wildland fires all over the Bay Area and Northern California - fires so large they are among the biggest we have ever seen.

These fires have driven many of us indoors to shelter from the smoke and particulate-filled air. 

They come on the heels of California’s longest and driest drought ever recorded – from 2011-to-2019. An Economist article from August 26, 2020 points out that this drought led to the deaths of nearly 150 million trees, which have dried out and become fuel for fire.

My guest is Dr. Michael Anderson, State Climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources

Photo by: Ali Zifan (CC BY-SA 4.0) (derived from World Köppen Classification (with authors).svg)