In the wake of hurricanes Florence and Michael and myriad other devastating storms and wildfires stacking up during the last decade, an updated assessment of California’s changing climate offers the projection of more of the same.

The assessment said Californians can expect more heat and more extreme weather, which would lead to more wildfires, floods, drought and public health issues. California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment was produced as part of a volunteer initiative by climate experts. The assessment updates the third one issued in 2012.

The researchers used tools, including the Coastal Storm Modeling System, which makes detailed predictions of coastal flooding, erosion and cliff failures; Cal-Adapt, a portal for climate projections produced for the assessment; and Cal-Heat, a new tool for the assessment that informs local public health officials’ initiatives to protect the public during heat events.

Though the models predict a hotter, drier California, that doesn’t mean you have to look into the future to see the effects of climate change, according to contributing author Jay Lund. “We’re already starting to see some of the effects of the warmer climate from the hydrology,” he said. “We’ve been seeing roughly 1 percent of average runoff coming more in the winter than in the spring.”

Read more