Drought to Deluge: Investigating California's Extreme Winter of 2022-23

In Fall of 2022, California was experiencing its worst drought in history. While the forecasts in October called for the exceptional drought to continue into the winter, the exact opposite occurred. Unusually powerful storms repeatedly slammed into California’s pacific coast resulting in one of the wettest winters in state history, and one of the most treacherous to navigate. Today we’re looking into why the drought forecast was so wrong, what the driving forces that determine drought and rain in California are, and why this vicious cycle of feast or famine has plagued California for such a long time, and will likely get worse in the future.
Sources and Further Reading:
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Drought to Deluge: Investigating California's Extreme Winter of 2022-23

[@angelsfancrc1]

As a Californian, I would love to see you do videos on the other end of the extreme spectrum: the famous California firestorms (1991 Berkeley, 2003 SoCal, 2017 Wine Country, Camp Fire to name a few). Ive actually thought about what you could bring to the table in discussing that phenomena

[@Weather_Nerd]

Dixie and Caldor too, the span of land those beasts covered is impressive. Especially Dixie my goodness 💔 So many “good” fires to be covered in detail sadly

[@ciitadel2518]

Yes to all of these! I grew up in San Diego and while I was too young at the time to remember the 2003 fire season, I've heard so many stories from my parents and also am able to remember the 2007 SoCal firestorm very well. I think it would be especially interesting if we could get a video comparing and contrasting a lot of these firestorms because of how much more common they've become over the past few years. Especially when you consider the jump between the 2003 Cedar Fire being the largest in California state history, only for that record to be broken in 2017 with the Thomas fire, then again in 2018 with the Mendocino Complex, then again in 2020, and again in 2021. A 14 year record suddenly being broken 4 times over in 5 years? I've always been interested to find out what's going on weather wise there.

[@samthevidg]

@@Weather_Nerd Dixie was crazy. Largest source fire in CA history

[@tankeater]

In 2003, you couldn't do PE outside. They made us eat inside (my HS, Santiago, Corona, had over 5K students). The ash on all the cars in the morning was CRAZY!!!!!!

[@spraybottlejim232]

@@tankeater Yeah in the last couple years, while I was still in school we had smoke days where we just all stayed home since it got so bad. And the last couple years we basically just have a smoke season where it's all smoky outside for a month or two from around october to november. This year we haven't really had that though, at least not in Sacramento.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

The snow rapidly melting by heavy rain is no joke. That's the same situation that caused major flooding here in Portland back in '96. I was a kid at the time so all I remember is it raining a lot and being happy that I didn't have to go to school lol

[@Weather_Nerd]

Same happened for central valley that same winter I believe, maybe 1997 I was a kid but I remember seeing people on their roofs on the news and then seeing a park under 4’ of water near Sac. Awful set up, this last winter was especially bad because it wasn’t just the mountains with snow, the 2500-4000’ areas also had 1-5’

[@GooberGladiator]

So glad you covered this! Dealt with this winter firsthand, and it was the craziest winter I’ve ever seen, no where near 2017. Local flooding was extreme, it snowed super low twice, and it seemed like it would never stop raining. Getting 7 inches of shear downpouring rain in 1 day is just like it sounds. One of our drought-ridden reservoirs went from 20% to 102%, flowing over the spillway for the first time in decades. So much was happening all at once. From December to April it was atmospheric river after atmospheric river. This is finally a video that does this crazy winter justice!

[@axg5929]

seriously it was insane

[@davidmarijuano]

facts

[@wondabiz]

no lie

[@dcamron46]

Didn’t it rain a lot in like may too? I can’t remember exactly but it seemed like it went through to summer

[@GooberGladiator]

I live in the central coast of california, and I don’t remember anything from may, but there could have been something elsewhere.

[@Randy.E.R]

Thank you for sharing this with us. As a native of California’s High Desert (59 years), I am used to having two seasons of either extreme heat or cold-linked together by gusty winds. I wouldn’t trade it for anything because the lack of rain gives us about 350 nights of starry skies. This winter was a little different. Over the years I have seen winters of intense rain. The late 1970s gave us a lot of flooding after one of the worst droughts that I can remember. It happened again in 1982 and 1983 when we were hammered with non-stop rain. But neither of those compared to this last year. It wasn’t so much that we had one storm of heavy rain, it was non-stop rain from one week to the next. The beauty of that rain was that we had the most beautiful wild flowers this Spring. The desert and hills looked like they were layered in gold for several weeks.

[@HistoryNerd808]

I know you guys probably wished it would've been spread out more but you guys did desperately need the rain. Unfortunately, droughts rarely end gradually, especially in a state like California.

[@mack.attack]

here in utah we benefited in a record breaking way as well. as a skier i am so grateful to have been here for the GREATEST WINTER EVER. it will be legendary for years and years. Alta Ski Area ended with a total of 903" for the season. it was truly amazing.

[@catdude3320]

Excellent work as usual dude! I've been a native SoCal resident my entire life, and it was rough down here but not nearly as bad as up north. For the most part it was just weeks of light yet steady rain, but that tends to add up over time. We had a lot of flooding scares and even had some snow flurries, which people were freaking out over. Where I live is right by some dairies, and the dirt roads in the area were completely flooded and impossible to drive on, which I learned the hard way lol. The tornado in Montebello was definitely freaky, because we never have tornados. All of a sudden it was all anyone could talk about, and I'm sure it was still on people's minds when we had Hilary earlier this year.

[@O5_Anthony]

It's nice to finally see an extreme weather channel cover california. It's such a criminally under-discussed place for extreme weather events, just because it doesn't have tornadoes or thunderstorms very often. But that doesn't make the region boring. Great video!

[@TrinityCourtStudios]

Usually when people think of natural disasters and California they think of San Andreas or Howard Fault line related earthquakes; but CA’s varied microclimates makes it such an immensely diverse state in terms of what weather can occur.

[@sammygirl6910]

My sister lives up in Agoura, north of Malibu. There's only one road in and out of where she lives and it was closed for almost two weeks after the last event. She's been through all kinds of natural phenomenon living up there for 25+ years, so she and her two sets of neighbors were prepared. She had waterfalls on her property most of the spring and the wildflowers were amazing. They were lucky compared to up north.

[@walkingwithsierra]

Must be old agoura area near chesebro or like Cornell area down kanan. I was at my parents house is in Morrison ranch and it was nothing like that.

[@leftward_hoe]

@@walkingwithsierra well that's just like, your micro-climate, man.

[@roananmccaa]

one plus of the extra rain here was that we had the most incredible blooming of flowers in the spring, I will always remember the spring of 2023 being verdant and colorful

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

I wasn't expecting to see a video on my local disaster weather so soon on this channel! Lifelong NorCal local here. It was HORRIBLE. I was living in Oakland at the time and here's some of the things that the weather story doesn't capture: -you didn't mention the raw sewage backflows in SF that lasted until JUNE OF THIS YEAR -none of our infrastructure, including basic housing was designed for this so a lot of things like water heaters (often flameless units) were designed to withstand it; my property management company tried to tell us to wait a week to get our water heater fixed. I could not shower, cook safely or clean for three full days. I couldn't even wash my hands, the water was basically just above freezing coming from the tap and actually caused skin chap; lots of hand sanitizer was used up that week -this period of insanity lasted FOR FOUR MONTHS STRAIGHT -clothing here is necessarily thinner as we typically have super high highs and mids for lows; my polished concrete home flooring ensured that I wore shoes and socks indoors at all times, bundled up in five damn shirts at a time and at one point moved my cat into my bed to keep her warm, she was struggling too (she's very round but even a chubby kitty can only stay so warm) -SF Bay? Yeah built during the Victorian era, the walls in my split building "apartment" were damaged by the constant deluge. It's been almost a year. I've moved. All of my clothes still have a whiff of mildew to them. It could be psychosomatic but I don't feel I'll ever be free of that stink -the weather and floods killed almost all of the chickens in Santa Cruz county due to washing them away or exacerbating avian flu issues; I could not find eggs in a single grocery in Alameda county for two full months -bought sandbags for the first time in my life -not my first tornado experience (that would be in Fairfield in the 1990s; Mather AFB gets them every now and again it's not unheard of) but a friend who had just moved from Seattle to Los Angeles was terrified and all I could do was offer a resigned 🤷🏾 because we were having our own problems 8 hours north -collapsed roofs, SO MANY COLLAPSED ROOFS (from the water no snow) -the most dangerous highway in the state was shut down because CHP was already overloaded, cutting a huge artery of travel between the Bay and Sacramento off briefly; I often use this road to bypass tolls. I was not upset by this tho as it's right on top of an American River levee largely and the drawbridges got dodgy -my bedroom window flooded in the middle of a work call and shut off my internet; my job is largely healthcare related, I was helping someone else with THEIR emergency while having my own😂 I could go on but you get the gist. I'm 38. I've seen everything the state can throw at us, I have never been as exhausted or stressed out as I was by this period. I'm also pretty sure it contributed to the sudden passing of one of the best friends I've ever had in May by complicating the medication supply chain for months after and delaying their insulin raw materials getting to the manufacturers (Oakland is the second largest port in the state) I just hope we collectively take lessons from this but I fear we won't. I personally learned a LOT and am making a lot of difficult decisions about home buying in the future because of it. I don't think I'll be staying. I'm moving out of the country eventually but I have a kid to worry about who I'd like to have a home to go to and if this pattern is any indication (combined with space weather data, huge geek here) I anticipate more of the same this year in Sacramento-which is below sea level and therefore way more flood prone. This state will always be home. When I go abroad I don't tell people I'm American, I tell them I'm Californian, that's how much joy it brings me to come from here! But I also don't see the funds we pay in taxes (14% income tax just as a low paid full time worker, massive vehicle registration taxes, most expensive fuel in the USA despite being an oil production and refinement state, unreasonable property taxes that drove my lifelong 2nd gen California dad to leave or risk never retiring, worst roads in America, higher income poverty level due to extreme cost of living and 5th largest economy globally by itself) being used well and I am seriously looking elsewhere to become stable enough to afford to leave (my spouse is 6000mi away in Europe, it sucks lol). I don't like our governor, most of us don't, but his influential aunt's brand recognition keeps getting him elected and I'm growing increasingly despondent that things will always be this way. Maybe it will get better, we'll see. Cheers!

[@ashleyhamman]

As a resident of the foothills I always find myself wondering during the crazy winters whether getting into the City of Sacramento will become impossible sometime. So far it's not happened while I've needed to go down there, but I remember either Watt or Howe across the American River having water up to the underside of the car, as well as the reports of levees breaching as a kid. I feel like the sentiment of being Californian before being American is fairly common, we're such a unique place. While we have our problems I find the tradeoffs of even thinking about living anywhere else to simply not be worth it, so I may as well try to do my part to help make it better via my professional pursuits.

[@nina1891]

I live in Oakland too and i saw so many mini lakes formed that people could go skiing on them due to potholes

[@achurricane5964]

I'm an atmospheric science student in my second year at UC Davis (First year at the time) who has lived in CA my entire life I enjoyed the wet winter, I remember just staring at radar as the MAR 21 storm moved in as it looked almost tropical in nature as it approached the shoreline.

[@AdventureAwaits1111]

Do they teach you about geoengineering? Because that is the cause of the extreme weather, dont need a degree to see it, just look up and pay attention....take notes, daily.

[@Userhfdryjjgddf]

​@@AdventureAwaits1111hahahha I bet they ignore that as much as men saying they are now woman because wearing a dress. Most democrats ignore things and pretend it's all good. Unless it's a man who is strong. They attack them at every turn.

[@jmelande4937]

@@AdventureAwaits1111LOL.

[@johnfoge1742]

@jmeland Why are you laughing?

[@jmelande4937]

@@johnfoge1742 lol. lol again.

[@MasterOfMillibars]

This is excellent work mate, I lived through this event. It actually is what got me into meteorology as I was fascinated by the insane amount of rain and snow and the reappearance of Lake Tulare. Thank you for making this one!!

[@wakewakey]

I hope they encourage Tulare lake to stay. Some people are lobbying for it but have to contend with the family who drained the lake for agriculture, bought the new dry lakebed, and have held local power as a familly since then. They even diverted flood waters onto their competitors farms.

[@BillyKona6676]

Great stuff, Steve. Love your videos as always. I live in the greater San Diego area, further south than where most of the atmospheric river shenanigans took place. For MONTHS we'd keep hearing about this onslaught of weather barraging the north and central coast, only to look outside and see a mild drizzle, 4 out of 5 times. It felt like there were only a few days with moderate rain down here. On the one hand, we were spared from all the damages associated with the storms. On the other, it almost just felt like a slightly wetter winter, with none of the fun that comes with unusual weather.

[@Necromediancer]

There was nothing fun about this weather event. In the San Bernardino mountains, most people were snowed in completely, many for weeks. My family was fortunate throughout but the majority were miserable. Our only local grocery store completely collapsed. People were without food, warmth, and basic goods for a long time. Completely unlike anything that has happened for a long time, so no one was prepared.

[@Anonymous-tf7cg]

San Diego native/resident too… remember when people were making these huge water slides and floated on inner tubes down the streets 😂

[@WeatherWatcher14]

Phenomenal video! So much to learn from you always. I think this video was really needed, since little to nobody expected last winter’s incredible pattern. Keep up the amazing work!

[@thebroderickhoward]

Hey I know you!!😂

[@WeatherWatcher14]

Man oh man. I was just waiting for someone I knew to reply to me here 😂😂 Wassup Broderick!! @@thebroderickhoward

[@thats.insane]

Oh hey weather watcher

[@WeatherWatcher14]

Hey what's up!@@thats.insane

[@Sid-ho6gj]

No doubt it is always sad to wait so long between videos, but if that's what it takes to make these well-conceived, perfectly-produced videos on interesting topics, I'm all for it! You truly do such high-quality videos with intelligent commentary and interesting information.

[@Wx140]

Weatherbox is no doubt the best weather documentary maker, you can’t change my mind.

[@ashleycantrell9844]

Alferia and Carly Ann WX are up there too

[@shotszz1787]

watching alferia gives me a headache, you cant have a speech impediment and have a job of talking lmao@@ashleycantrell9844

[@adamplace1414]

I could try but I'd be lying

[@Krop_King]

Storms q, alferia, and carly are top 4, 3, and 2 but weatherbox is no doubt the best

[@Sirwitless]

There’s a couple near it but it’s real good

[@QuebecGamer20]

Hey, I've Lived in eastern Canada my whole life and I would love a video explaining how we have some of the harshest Winters in the inhabited world. Your content is always fascinating to watch, even for somebody who never really thinks about weather

[@flight2k5]

🤣😂 only a Canadian would say that

[@GallardoFreak888]

This really brought more understanding to why California is so hot and cold (with weather patterns). But it also highlights to me how come when those dry periods end how come California isn’t equipped with more water storage or holding ability with the drought periods. Excellent video as always can’t wait for the next. Would love to see a video about more northeastern tornadoes in the past that have been significant.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

There’s plenty of storage in the form of aquifers. The challenge is refilling them from the runoff. But there is also the challenge of controlling the runoff from threatening lives and property. California has a lot of flood control infrastructure, but it was overwhelmed by the extreme rainfall of 2022-23. A big question is whether last winter’s weather pattern was a fluke or a new pattern. And the answer is that we don’t know and it will take years to answer that question with any amount of predictability. And here’s the thing: preparing for the worst case scenario is expensive. Making vast flood control improvements across the state to cope with flukes is a waste of resources. It’s doable because we understand the engineering, but it’s an opportunity cost. Who pays for it? The taxpayers of course, but what is the funding mechanism? State? Federal? Storage of the surplus water from extreme wet seasons is less well understood and suffers from the same uncertainty about changing climate patterns. Sure, you can construct flood plains around rivers, but those require a lot of real estate. Returning to the question of opportunity costs and limited resources, if the 10+ year droughts are also a new normal weather pattern, should California spend more money for flood control and water storage, or should it devote those resources into increasing fire suppression efforts? That’s not cheap either. We often complain about the inaction and ineffectiveness of politicians, but a major reason for that is politicians are subject to competing interests (not to mention hard-to-predict shifts in the political climate-the other climate change). Politicians who “do the right thing” have short careers, while politicians who engage in partisan theater tend to last longer (the Matt Gaetzes and Marjorie Taylor Greens). Setting aside the culture war clowns, the mainstream politicians also face paralyzing issues. Conservative constituents want lower taxes but also want infrastructure improvements. Liberals want more social programs (and despite the stereotype, they don’t want to raise taxes willy nilly). I don’t want to turn this into a political debate. I just wanted to point out that both sides of the political spectrum are hamstrung.

[@jackcahill3623]

Your attention to detail and hard work is evident in all of these videos, you do such a good job condensing dense concepts into videos that are easily accessible. Kudos!

[@MakeYouMadds]

SoCal resident here. This was the first rain season I thoroughly watched, including paying attention to atmospheric pressure. As for the hail/graupel storm, it was probably one of the weirdest weather events I've ever seen. It was midday, around 2:30-ish P.M when the storm rolled into my area. The difference was literally night and day. I have a picture on the California freeway in between the scattered sunny clouds to the south and a rolling black fog to the north, with a dense network of clouds in the center. Some other notable events you didn't mention were the tropical storm which hit in August (Kay; it didn't do any damage but it led to light rain and ash during a really dry season), the month of February 2019 where some of the harshest rainstorms hit the state nearly nonstop, and recently with Hilary, which also wasn't too notable, only bringing somewhat heavy rain on a warm day, but produced beautiful images at sunset as it was moving into the area.

[@pedrodepacas-ic1cb]

That February snowstorm in the Bay Area was crazy. I will never forget waking up to that and literally rubbing my eyes in disbelief.

[@AidenJ-wn3ts]

Great vid Weatherbox. I remember vividly in early January there was actually a tornado warning for parts of Central CA at around 3-4 AM, I awoke to the sound of thunder and heavy rain, and I remember seeing Midwest-level lightning outside. Still the craziest weather I’ve ever experienced.

[@jamesstemmler7620]

So well broken down as always!! I live in Ontario Canada but as a longhaul trucker I was in California during some of the madness last year and was hoping you'd cover it! I'm very fluent with tornados and severe thunderstorms cuz that's what was my main intellectual driver growing up but I was fascinated to learn more about these ARs!

[@Isaactheweathernerd]

Yessssss!!!! Amazing day when you upload!

[@weatherboxstudios]

Thanks isaac!

[@fromaugustisland]

Great video! Small correction- Highway 9 not 19 was shut down here in the mountains. We went a total of 53 days without power in the Santa Cruz mountains. Had snow, closed roads, land slides, downed power lines, mud slides… you name it. Craziest winter I’ve experienced. Thanks for the informative video- hoping this winter is less extreme!

[@bentleysmusic3434]

Thank you for this video!

[@weatherboxstudios]

Thank you for watching!

[@Clangdon0148]

I may be a little biased as I live on the coast of Lake Superior, but I think you should do a more in depth episode about extreme lake effect snow bands, maybe like the storm that hit Buffalo last November or something similar, cover all the things that good into causing them and the clean up efforts in places that get a lot of lake effect snow. I go to MTU in houghton michigan so it’s an ever-present topic and I’d love to hear more about some of the more extreme lake-effect events

[@Steven-em5if]

As a fellow yooper I agree.

[@sarahbrown6493]

Wow amazing to see a weather event I lived through on this channel! I’m from the Sierra Nevada mountains (Tahoe area for anyone familiar) and I can’t even begin to describe how insane last winter was. My area got soooooo close to breaking the all time record snow fall of about 850 inches that was set in the 1950s. So we had over 800 inches of snow up here, which was absolutely crazy. One day in February we got more than 11 feet of snow IN ONE DAY. It basically shut the entire town down, no one could get anywhere. Skiing is really big up here and of course last winter was a great season for snow sports. But to get here from the Bay Area you have to go through Donner Pass (named after the Donner Party who got trapped there). I’ve been driving in snow my whole life and it still scares the shit out of me to drive that pass in the winter. People with little snow driving experience would try to come up for skiing, cause a massive crash, and then trucks bringing in food deliveries wouldn’t be able to get into the town for days (side note: 🙄🙄). We also had such a large snow cornice on our roof that when it finally fell it caved in the garage wall below it. Not a great thing to happen at 2 am lmao. We’ve fixed our wall and roof over the summer luckily but NO ONE is looking forwards to this winter😂

[@bjarkiengelsson]

Hail, fellow mountaineer!

[@domjrl]

My wife and I live in the mountains of San Bernardino National Forest, and I can tell you that February 2023 was absolutely nuts! We expect snow in the mountains around that time of year here, but in a single two-week period we got around 10 feet of snow. We were outside digging snow for the full two weeks. By the time the snow stopped, we were exhausted and on the verge of collapse. I am happy we dug though because many of our neighbors did not and had to be rescued as they were buried alive in their houses. Some people had their roofs collapse or gas mains exploded from the weight of the snow on the gas meters outside, causing leaks. Much love and respect to the meteorologist who gave us about a week or so of warnings concerning the impending blizzard on the horizon. We had plenty of supplies and were able to wait the 2 and a half weeks for the roads to reopen that went down the mountain. Many up here that did not take the warnings seriously ran out of supplies early, meaning they either had to hike out or call in to be rescued by emergency services. They were definitely memories that we will never forget for as long as we live.

[@tuckerlovesbernie]

“I had such a great day, I can’t see how it can get any better” Weatherbox: **submit**

[@a.b.5321]

I really appreciate this detailed video on last winter! I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains… near 17 and Summit Rd. I pretty much had a breakdown from the point of the snow storm (after however many storms already) until the last AR rolled through in… late March? April? I can’t remember, but I was done with it. We always get dumped with rain in these mountains (at least more so than the valley), and we are used to the problems that causes with landslides and whatnot, but it was seemingly never ending. We never got enough of a break to dry out. We lost so many trees, we now have a landslide on our property we don’t know what to do with, my barn was - and still is - damaged. It was rough. I’m trying to prep as best I can if we get another extra wet winter, but if I’m being honest, I haven’t done enough. 😣 I will say though, I had been dreaming of sledding down our back hill since we moved into our house and I got to do that all day with my younger son after the snowfall, so I did manage to pack in some positive memories despite the mental exhaustion. 😅 We get snow where we are every few years, but not so much that sledding would be possible, so that was a bonus. Core memories made. 😊

[@ciitadel2518]

Such a fascinating video that explains all these weather concepts so well! As an LA resident I dealt with my fair share of rain this past winter. I believe it was the February 27th storm you mentioned (or if not sometime around then) when my mom was driving back to her place from work, and while waiting at a stoplight in Venice Beach it started to hail. The strangest part was that it was actually sunny out so she hadn't been expecting it at all. The entire winter was pretty confusing to say the least. Though I will say if there was one sort of benefit, it was that when SoCal got hit with a tropical storm this past August (which was nearly unheard of in California) everyone knew to be prepared for floods because of how bad the flooding was during the winter. Very interested to see what this winter will hold. Thank you for this video, despite all the damage the rains caused, it's very cool to be able to understand what exactly is going on in the atmosphere to cause all of this

[@thearbiter3369]

This young man single handed got me more interested in weather, the patterns that come with and the unpredictability of it all. Thank you sir love the content

[@mrx5001]

Yes! Weatherbox upload = good day

[@em12bun]

this is so interesting to learn about. northwestern colorado got absolutely pounded with snow last winter too so i shouldn’t be surprised it was a crazy winter other places as well!

[@fordpolk642]

You are, without a doubt, my favorite weather doc on KZbin. Could you possibly do a deep dive on the 2014 Louisville, Ms EF4?

[@dantebeernal1559]

"babe not now new weatherbox just dropped"

[@sean..L]

This video is nothing less than a brilliant piece of journalism.

[@tornadostories]

Thank you so much for being a credible voice who takes in depth meteorological knowledge and popularises it for us enthusiastic weather lovers.

[@ariannagorbet2239]

I’m from California and I can confirm that last winter was horrible! Especially New Years Eve and the first weeks of 2023. I also remember the time that it “snowed”

[@Noah-le7yo]

The winter of 2022-2023 was also very significant in Utah, where it effectively ended our major drought for the time being. Before that winter, almost 70% of the state was in the worst drought category, and now only a tiny part of the state is considered to be in drought at all. It was the single wettest year on record for Utah, completely smashing the previous record, and some parts of the mountains received over 900 inches of snow. I personally loved it, and hope that it happens again soon.

[@MetallicAAlabamA]

Around the 4:30 point of the video, where you gave us a visual of where the spinning L press system is located, and the cold front that accompanied the storm. I don't see many weather enthusiasts or professionals showing people exactly what a low pressure system is, where the center of low pressure is, or even where a H press area is located. Over the oceans you can see the spin alot better due to the fact there isn't anything over the ocean that could disrupt the storm. Where in the Plains, Midwest, and Southeast. The storms are broken up over the mountainous terrain out west, then reorganize as it makes its way eastward. Reason I mention this is because I have a few kiddos that watch all kinds of weather uploads with me, and when I see something that could help their brains when learning. I do what I can to keep them interested lol. Love the channel! Thanks.

[@vibez3453]

As someone who experienced this insane experience in the Bay Area. I’m just gonna say, last years skiing season, was AMAZING!

[@connordickerson1059]

I love these videos. They teach so much about such interesting meteorological events.

[@SuperSirex127]

whenever I come back here I always hope to see you have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, I hope to see it happen some day. you absolutely get the "the most underrated weather KZbinr award" in my book

[@ScaleSpeedworks]

Excellent job with the video! It was crazy out here in California last year. The rain was much needed and I’m glad it was sufficient enough to pull the state out of drought conditions

[@calliopeeerin6584]

I’ve been unpacking my room for the last few days and slowly going through all your videos as I go. They’re great things to put on in the background, as I have an interest in severe weather and you are incredible at making such complex things easily digestible while still maintaining both scientific integrity and empathy towards those affected by the weather. Thank you for the videos! PS, if you’re looking for topics, do you think you could cover the 2021 Snowstorm in Texas? I remember it happening so I would especially love to hear your take on how it happened and what went down.

[@JoeyOnly]

As a weather guy I just gotta say I love this channel!

[@kasenbarrolaza3385]

100 inches of snow in the Sierra? Some spots reached 1,000+ inches! My friends vacation home near the UC Sierra Snow lab got 700 inches, we had to clear snow out of the driveway in mid July. It was 85 degrees.

[@chipdouglas4210]

It surprises me how often weather commentators confuse snowpack and cumulative snowfall. He must’ve read the 126” maximum snowpack in Lake Tahoe and assumed that was the total winter 22/23 snowfall.

[@Raspberriespie368]

Love the Video! You should do the severe weather Event of December 2021 next.

[@paulshusted]

Best weather KZbin channel. Love your content man! Combo of weather, history and science

[@giffordsamuelson2163]

Thank you for helping me understand my crazy state. I live in the California Central Valley and last year (2022) I had sandbags around my house for most of the winter and spring

[@vinny61389]

Every time I think I know something about weather patterns and climate, I watch one of these and am once again humbled. Awesome dive into what happened, really appreciate all the work that's clearly put into gathering all the data and graphically distilling it down for us regular folk to digest. Also love seeing content about the west coast and Pacific based weather. As this video highlights it can be an environment of extremes just like many other places in the US.

[@darkdreamer921]

@weatherbox, I was one of your first 1000 subscribers and I’m still surprised your channel hasn’t gotten half a million subscribers yet. Keep up the great videos!

[@pursuitofexcitement]

VIDEO IDEA: Cover the historic March heat wave of 2012 that turned winter into summer. Love your channel man, keep up the good work!

[@micosstar]

came from yt recommend; feel so surreal watching a weather analysis of what did happen in my state

[@seandiaz99]

socal resident here. thanks for putting together great informative content.

[@chiiiiweeeee]

i live in San Diego and March 1st of 2023 was the worst. we experienced hail all day and the high temperature was only 47f. the wind knocked down several trees in my neighborhood. the roofs at our school were like waterfalls.

[@MJIZZEL]

Finally someone covers the extreme winter of last season out west. Im surprised no one is linking the influx of moisture to the eruption of Honga-Tonga Honga Haipai. That eruption injected incredible ammouts of water into the atmosphere. Has to he the culprit.

[@nologin5375]

I felt quite lucky to be a southern Californian last winter, as although the central and northern parts saw a lot of extreme weather problems, SoCal was probably the best it's ever looked as the heavy and persistent rain caused tons of flora to grow on the otherwise dry and largely barren mountains where I live. I'm very near the border so we didn't see many flood warnings or concerning conditions, just very frequent rain.

[@tornadotrx]

amazing work man, really awesome.

[@thebroderickhoward]

I lived in California for my whole life and just moved to Texas 2 years ago! In all my 13 years in Cali I had never seen anything like this, definitely an insane and quite rare winter!

[@pyropulseIXXI]

The last time this happened was in the 80s; 13 years is nothing

[@thebroderickhoward]

@@pyropulseIXXI yeah fr!

[@jeremycummings6702]

I'm not from California but im from Utah and we saw the wettest winter here in salt lake ever it was a crazy winter and we sure needed it we were in severe drought as well. Hoping this year isnt as bad we need another wet winter to really be out of concern. Thanks for the lesson buddy!!!!

[@isaacc473]

I live right between San Francisco and San Jose and December 31st 2022 was a day I'll never forget. I woke up and the side of our house was a river, the ground was unable to absorb water due to so all of it just accumulated above ground. My dad and I were building trenches in the backyard to divert water away from the house but it was too late. One by one each room started filling with water. A family friend and I attempted to get sandbags at the local distribution center, but all roads to the distribution area were submerged. On the drive down, sewers were shooting water up into the air and downtown was under several feet of water. We even saw people on kayaks and stranded cars below train underpasses. We slept in shifts that night removing water from the house with buckets. The house flooded 4 more times that winter but none were as bad as the first one.

[@westcoastaviation_]

Hey man! Really appreciate you covering this topic being from SoCal. It was very interesting seeing snowfall in areas of Los Angeles!

[@sharp-endmedia8314]

I work directly in river monitoring and flood prediction in the central coast of California. Needless to say last year will stick in our minds for quite some time. This video was incredibly well done and showcased a lot of insane footage I haven’t even seen yet!

[@ethanboof]

I had lived in Reno at the time. That winter from end of December to February was one of the most brutal in a very long time. Everyone had stayed inside, and you would hear news about communities up in Tahoe trapped and unable to leave and worried if the roof would collapse due to the snow or if they would run out of food. In the end it extended the Skiing/Snowboarding season from March till end of July. Some of the resorts did close during the storms as it was a blizzard, or the lifts didn't work because the snowpack was so high, or all the mechanisms were frozen solid.

[@williamlloyd3769]

ARkStorm Scenario developed by U.S. Geological Survey outlined a lot of the impacts observed during the 2022-23 winter atmospheric river events. Worth a read.

[@brieflies]

As a person who lives in the Bay Area, I distinctly remember waking up to see snow on the nearby mountains one morning and listening to some people in my art class at school discuss bunking class to go sledding.

[@sideri214]

ive always had an interest in natural disasters yknow volcanoes and such, but the way you present your videos has rlly kindled my interest in meteorology and weather patterns, to the point where im honestly considering studying them in college, so thank u for making ur content as ive never seen anything like it and its rlly inspired me!

[@The_Angry_Medic]

You can blame it all on me. I moved from Texas to the Bay area in December last year, and bragged about how I didn't have to ever deal with southeast Texas weather again. Had some legit bad memories of Harvey too, and I guess I deserve it.

[@joshuaharper372]

My first reaction to 5.5" of rain in a day in Sacramento was, "Is that all?" As a native Houstonian, my idea of extreme rain events is somewhat skewed!

[@ariannagorbet2239]

@@joshuaharper372 My reaction as a Californian was “What?!”

[@Jewclaw]

Incredible video. This is the kind of info that love

[@sarge420]

Great video. As an Oregonian (1957) it’s been interesting over the decades of storms to hit WA, OR, & CA.

[@karenpeters4457]

Thanks for this. I was hoping someone would cover this. It was indeed extreme and totally unexpected. I still feel traumatized.

[@felixgonzalez5343]

Ever since last winter, I always wondered how and what created it. Seeing how it built up. Thank you for this video! Just gained a new subscriber.

[@JakeandOwen]

February 22 was a record day in Salt Lake Utah... I know this video was about California but all the left-over water from California came to Utah and we got a record year. Thanks for this summery of last winter I appreciate your work. keep them coming!!!

[@ajandfred7223]

I live an hour south of LA, and it was the most rainfall I’ve seen here and I’ve been here almost 21 years, it reminded me of how the rain in Texas can be

[@aemrt5745]

I live east of Sacramento in the Sierra foothills. Winter 2022/2023 was insane. During the early January storms, our storm drains reversed direction. The volume of water was so great, we had mini fountains emerging from the drains! We had localized street flooding, but homes in our neighborhood did not flood.

[@mailynnrivers2693]

I love this channel. You naturally make this so interesting!

[@ihaveexisted3280]

I live right outside the snow area in NorCal, and so last year it actually snowed in my area to the point where my friends were able to have a snow ball fight

[@WhiskersInc]

This was incredibly well done!!

[@wintermoonomen]

Thank you for your presentation! Being a Californian I learned a lot especially about the different micro climates I didn't realize we have. Very much enjoyed this.

[@azimuth4850]

Thank you for showing the Kern. It was like seeing an almost dead river come back to life. Still flowing pretty good, too.

[@dirtytreerat14]

Awesome video! I live in California and experienced all of this firsthand. A river just outside of my neighborhood overflowed and flooded across the road it was insane. School was cancelled for 2 days. First time I’ve ever heard of school being cancelled due to weather for my area. A nearby town was extremely inundated the National Guard was called out. It was something I’ll never forget.

[@ruty6099]

Where I live in California it wasnt as bad we got like 2-3in of snow compared to what others got it was basically a regular heavy rain day here with a bit of snow so schools were still open

[@dalepunter7336]

Here is your investigation in a nutshell, YOU BLEW IT!

[@Mikeyelves13]

This was a really fascinating thing to learn about! In regard to future content, as someone from Ohio who now lives in Europe I'd love to learn more about the tornadoes that happen over here and why they seem so much less of a concern than the big windstorms that come in off the Atlantic in the winter :)

[@matthewlarsen2089]

Thanks for the video. It would be awesome to see you do a video about the atmospheric river that damaged so much of British Columbia on November 14, 2021. It was a pretty dramatic event - check out the damage to the Coquihalla that took years to repair!

[@TheMrPits]

My father is a wildland firefighter, and his comings and goings in the summer are forecasted by the atmospheric rivers of the winter before. Where they strike.... Or don't strike... Set the pattern of fire danger and activity for months ahead of time. Since my social life was dependent on him being gone, I would pay close attention to these patterns. Now being an active hiker and camper, we'll plot our summer trips based on winter snow and rain levels. I applaud someone who points out these patterns and their changes, this channel amongst those excellent sources. For last year, was watching these developments closely as I had a sleeper car booked on the coast starlight, which traverses those slopes near the coast. Thankfully flooding and land slides and repairs to the tracks were settled by early April. Seeing southern California that green was quite unusual.

[@VDA194]

Amazing information!!! Great video.

[@robgarnett3767]

I love your Chanel keep up the good work!

[@spacepluto]

loved the video. You should also look into the extreme summer lightning storm in 2020 that hit california. Temps were like 112 degrees even up in the mountains and 87F at night(florida weather!) and then we had that freak lightning storm that was apocalyptic and set off all the fires

[@davidkaplan2745]

Here in San Diego, we were on the edge of it all. We had a delightful winter with plenty of rain but not too much and enough stormy weather to make it interesting but not too dangerous.

[@battlenuts6254]

Another excellent and top notch quality video, have a great one dude

[@Straswa]

Great work Weatherbox, thanks for the in-depth information.

[@blapis-blazuli]

Oh, nice, a video about the weather in my state. I hope you'll eventually cover Tropical Storm Hilary and the effect it had on Death Valley, I think that'd be just as interesting to hear about.

[@douglassun8456]

Well done, sir! I appreciate the analytical depth and lack of sensationalism in how you treat this subject. I remember years ago, looking at a year-to-year list of rainfall totals for California and noticing that "average rainfall" seems to be purely a mathematical abstraction. In any given year, the actual total rainfall is either well above or below the "average." Feast or famine, as you say.

[@benfrazier6713]

Awesome vid, I love learning about weather patterns and anomalies like this but so much of weather info is obscured or dry, you make it interesting and engaging! keep at it :)

[@johnspringer6003]

Great job!! Thank you.

[@Palpo_pics]

I remember seeing the snow just everywhere in the surrounding mountains here in the south bay, best winter I’ve ever lived through. Tragic for the ones that died and those who were left without power when the cold front swept through, but so thankful for all the water and the beautiful sights, and the super bloom that came later.

[@Average_Bros]

Hi weatherbox, can you please do a video on the April 4th, 1981 West Bend, WI F4 anticyclonic tornado. It holds the record for the most powerful anticyclonic tornado, as you know these types are usually weak, but, this tornado was an exception and killed 3 people cutting right through a major town during the late hours of midnight.