CRA Webinar: California 2023 Weather and Wildfire Outlook
On May 31, 2023, the CRA hosted a webinar on Weather and Wildfire Outlook. The webinar covered a wide range of weather related topics along with cascading impacts to critical infrastructure and communities.
Presenter: Sunny Wescott, a lead meteorologist for the Infrastructure Security Division at CISA, the Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security Agency. She specializes in national extreme weather hazards and climatological studies for impacts to public and private sector key resources.
Download Slide Deck NOTE: Many of the slides have a notes box in the upper left corner – when you click on this there is additional information and url links. You may have to download the slide deck, instead of viewing it online, to access these additional notes boxes.
Webinar Topics Time Markers
0:00 – Welcome & Opening
3:10 – 2022 Billion Dollar Disasters, Anomalous Weather, and Record Setters
7:58 – US Annual Temperature Compared to 20th-Century Average (weather whiplash and episodal weather)
11:08 – Weather Threats to Stability
13:04 – Atmospheric Rivers
15:30 – Drought
21:16 – Seasonal Climate Forecasts (Summer – Fall/Early Winter 2023)
24:28 – Wind Events
26:39 – Heat Impacts to Infrastructure & Radiative Heat Threats
33:53 – La Niña vs Neutral vs El Niño
38:36 – Tropical Cyclones
41:35 – California’s Cycle of Drought and Floods
44:59 – Severe Storm Records
46:44 – Fire Weather
50:33 – Landslides, Mudslides, Debris Flows, and Rockslides
51:52 – Regional Subsidence Threats
54:03 – Warming Surface Waters, Diseases, and Algae Blooms
56:32 – Valley Fever Expansion Due to Climate Warming
57:42 – Drought & Seismic Activity
58:55 – California Water Use
59:14 – Global Impacts of Extreme Weather
1:01:23 – Community Impacts & Climate Migration
1:02:30 – Climate Mapping Tool for Projections and Action Planning
1:03:56 – Q&A and Closing
Topics of Q&A Questions
Diablo winds in Northern California
Wildfire conditions in 2023
Heat waves this summer
Wet Bulb Index
Hurricane landfall risk for California
Atmospheric rivers