California may be the poster boy for global warming. Severe droughts fueled wildfires that swept large parts of the state this summer. Now the state is getting the rain that it's been waiting for - all at once.
Here's the problem. Imagine you have a flower garden. Normally you go out every day or two with a sprinkler can and gently water the garden, watching your beautiful flowers blossom. Then things change. Now you go out once a month and dump buckets of water on the garden. It doesn't seem to do much for the flowers but it sure causes the topsoil to run off.
The storms sweeping the state have brought some benefits. Some reservoirs have risen up to 5 inches, making good the lack of rain in November. The mountains have seen snowpacks increase by several feet.
But the rain isn't entirely welcome. In some posh suburban areas where wildfires this summer burned off the vegetation, mudslides are expected. Officials have already evacuated 1,000 homes in Orange County. The storm also has caused widespread destruction from its hurricane force winds.
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