[tinyletter]
NWS Sacramento video: Twitter
New York Times Piece: Californias Next Nightmare
This is an urgent and important message, so I'll keep it short. If you're in a hurry, please read and retweet this message.
If you have family or friends in northern or central Californiaplease get in touch with them on Monday morning, or sooner. The seriousness of the potential flood that is inbound on Monday and Tuesday cannot be overstated.
I just got off the phone with a NWS meteorologist at the Sacramento office, Bill Rasch, and he said they are increasingly concerned about the potential for the incoming atmospheric river to cause substantial or even historic flooding with little immediate notice. They are urging people to prepare to evacuate with less than 15 minutes warning, and expecting flooding in places that haven't flooded in "many years." As far as the this sort of dire wording, they have tentative plans to "take it up a notch" tomorrowthis is the real deal, a situation that likely hasn't hit California in decades, or maybe much longer.
Here's what is causing so much concern: If the atmospheric river stalls, there could be up to a foot of rain in a span of about 36 hours over places that are already floodingthat's a rainfall intensity that isn't expected more than once a century, or even more rare. At risk is the vast network of levees and dams and diversions that literally make modern California what it is, and protect hundreds of thousands of people. If this system is compromised, the scale of disaster would be among the worst in U.S. history. A dire 2011 New York Times magazine piece outlines the scenario. It's not pretty.
NWS Sacramento video: Twitter
New York Times Piece: Californias Next Nightmare