Center for Climate Science

Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, spoke with NY Times about forecasted snow from California to Maine.  “Increasingly in California and elsewhere we’re seeing anecdotes that are lining up with the physical science evidence,” Mr. Swain said. “The last 30 years have changed a lot more than the previous 30 years, and we expect that...

Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, spoke to the NY Times about severe storms hitting California.  “The bad news is that these kinds of severe storms are likely to get more frequent, as climate change contributes to what experts say will be a future marked less by gradual, steady warming than by a kind of...

“You need two ingredients for an atmospheric river,” says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “A plume of really concentrated moisture in the atmosphere and strong, fast winds to move it around.”

This February has been the coldest in nearly 60 years, with the average temperature in LA this month falling five degrees lower than the normal average. However, Neil Berg, associate director of science at UCLA’s Center for Climate Science, said the climate in LA is still getting warmer despite this temporary cold period. “The climate...

Daniel Swain is a climate scientist at UCLA. In this LA Times article, Swain explains that even though it never reached about 70 degrees this February, climate is still warming. “Even factoring in the cold snap, California is still warmer than average, and swings between periods of severe winter rainstorms and profound drought will probably...

Daniel Swain is a leading climate scientist at UCLA. He spoke with Bloomberg about PG&E since the Camp Fire in November. “In addition to these factors, and often exacerbating them, is climate change. Warmer winters have helped bark beetle populations explode, and hotter summer air sucks more moisture out of vegetation, priming it for combustion....

Neil Berg is a climate scientist at UCLA. He spoke with LA Times about snowpack and water supply in California. “The snowpack had more than doubled from last month — to 113 inches deep, or 43½ inches of water if it were to melt, said spokesman Chris Orrock. The snowpack is the fifth-deepest recorded at...

Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, discusses the atmospheric river that has drenched Northern California, “A storm in northern California dumped so much water on the region that roads turned into moats, isolating two California towns. It’s the kind of storm that experts project might become more extreme as climate change continues — which could...

UCLA’s Daniel Swain talks about the atmospheric river and flooding in California with WNYC Studios.  “When it floods in California, the culprit is usually what’s known as an atmospheric river—a narrow ribbon of ultra-moist air moving in from over the Pacific Ocean. Atmospheric rivers are also essential sources of moisture for western reservoirs and mountain...

UCLA’s Daniel Swain apogee with Curbed LA about the recent snow in LA.  “As snow fell Thursday in parts of LA where it hadn’t snowed for decades, Angelenos tried to make sense of the rare event. If the city is getting hotter due to climate change, how could it still get cold enough to snow?...

In this Newsweek article, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said the Corps are “categorically underestimating” the potential impact of a mega-storm. “We only have about a century of records to refer to in California. So, they are extrapolating in the dark,” he told The Times.

Scientists call it California’s “other big one,” and they say it could cause three times as much damage as a major earthquake ripping along the San Andreas Fault. Although it might sound absurd to those who still recall five years of withering drought and mandatory water restrictions, researchers and engineers warn that California may be...