Scientists model a California ‘Frankenstorm’
25 Jan
1861-1862 flooding proves that very scary scenarios are possible
LOS ANGELES – Think the recent wild weather that hammered California was bad? Experts are imagining far worse.
As torrential rains pelted wildfire-stripped hillsides and flooded highways, a team of scientists hunkered down at the California Institute of Technology to work on a “Frankenstorm” scenario — a mother lode wintry blast that could potentially sock the Golden State.
The hypothetical but plausible storm would be similar to the 1861-1862 extreme floods that temporarily moved the state capital from Sacramento to San Francisco and forced the then-governor to attend his inauguration by rowboat.
The scenario “is much larger than anything in living memory,” said project manager Dale Cox with the U.S. Geological Survey.
In the scenario, the storm system forms in the Pacific and slams into the West Coast with hurricane-force winds, hitting Southern California the hardest. After more than a (more…)
