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Atmospheric Rivers, Drought Town Hall Next Week
Two experts — a climate scientist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a state drought scientist — will present information.
SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Sonoma County is holding a drought and atmospheric rivers town hall next week.
On hand at the Nov. 10 town hall will be Jeanine Jones, drought manager for the California Department of Water Resources, and Julie Kalansky, a climate scientist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Kalansky is an expert on atmospheric rivers, which are "rivers in the sky" made of concentrated water vapor. They can be up to 1,000 miles long and transport warm tropical water vapor through the atmosphere and then dump it on cooler climes, such as California.
It might seem incongruous that Sonoma County faces the dual dangers of both drought and flooding, but it does, the county says. A 2019 study cited in the county's report to the Board of Supervisors entitled "Atmospheric Rivers Drive Flood Damages in Western States" published in Science says that Sonoma County experienced the highest amount of flood damage over the period of 1978 through 2017 among any county in the 11 Western U.S. states, costing the county $5.2 billion in damages over 40 years, according to the report.
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Recent national news reports made ominous warnings of "mega floods" in the state that will supposedly be caused by atmospheric rivers. Scholars at Scripps have determined that climate change is leading to more atmospheric rivers with greater intensity, putting California in a feast-or-famine situation between drought and deluge.
The town hall will be hosted by Supervisor David Rabbitt and will feature presentations on the state and county's drought impacts, the effects of climate change, and the "outlook" for atmospheric rivers in Sonoma County.
Find out what's happening in Rohnert Park-Cotatifor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency in April due to the drought, with the region's two primary water sources — Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino — at "near-historic" lows.
The first nine months of 2022 have been the second-driest in Sonoma County in 128 years, according to the county.
The virtual town hall will take place at 4 p.m. on Nov. 10. People interested in joining the virtual town hall must first register.
A version of the town hall will also be streamed on the county's YouTube channel.
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