![]() Martínez-Claros said the concern is that climate change will cause more extreme weather events in California, including extreme droughts. In that context, could it matter if we see small incremental increases in lightning during the dry season? It could matter - if it’s true.” “There are a lot of fires that have been sparked by lightning,” Swain observed, “especially if you go farther north into Central California and the Southern Sierra, where it’s much drier lightning - there’s not much rain falling. But Swain also said it’s difficult to predict how climate change will affect the region, and even marginal differences could have huge ramifications. It’s not exactly clear whether climate change will mean more lightning and thunder in L.A., though.įor the most part, Swain said many of the fundamentals in California’s climate - cold ocean temperatures, high pressure to keep the “lid” on in the summer - will continue to suppress many thunderstorms here. One study even projects that lightning strikes will increase by about 12% for every degree Celsius of global warming. With storm clouds came lightning and thunder.Īcross the U.S., climate change is likely to produce more extreme weather - including more violent and destructive thunderstorms in the American Heartland. With upward motion came tall clouds - tall clouds that became storm clouds. Low pressure favors upward motion in the atmosphere. ![]() The second ingredient? In Swain's terms, the “lid” came off the “pot” - instead of high pressure, a weak low pressure system set up off the coast. “It’s rare, but it’s not as unusual as it might seem,” said José Martínez-Claros, a postdoctoral researcher in atmospheric sciences at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Normally, this pipeline feeds summer storms over Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada - but on Wednesday morning, the moisture seeped into California. First, a somewhat-unusual flow of monsoonal moisture. There were several difference-makers in the air over L.A. Don’t Worry - I’m From A Place With Real Weather, And I’m Here To Help.” I was so excited that I more-than-half-seriously pitched my editors a story entitled, “So You’ve Never Heard Thunder Before. On Wednesday, to my glee, I was wrong: a series of storms rolled through Southern California, bringing actual thunder and lightning to my adopted home. So after nearly a decade living on the West Coast, I’ve trained myself against getting my hopes up for Real Weather: That rumble outside my window is likely just a dumpster rolling downhill, a firework booming across town or the sound of my dreams collapsing like an oil drum under a tank. I love them because, in elementary school, after my first time watching Twister, a (perfect) film about a fictional tornado outbreak, my friends and I had to retreat into the basement - to shelter from a real storm, right outside our window. ![]() I love them both in spite of, and because of, the thrilling terror that only a Midwestern tornado siren can inspire. ![]()
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