California’s droughts and deluges are a sign of the weather “whiplash” to come

Climate change isn’t just making weather more extreme. It’s making it more volatile.

When California was in the midst of its wettest winter in 100 years in February of last year, 20 inches of rain fell in the Sierra Nevada over just three days, sending a record flow of water into the lake held back by the tallest dam in the United States.

Completed in 1968, the aging Oroville Dam was suddenly holding back a reservoir at 151 percent of its capacity, forcing operators to relieve the pressure via a spillway.