Reflecting on Three Weeks of Extraordinary Weather

SACRAMENTO — Sometimes you have to see nature’s power firsthand before you believe it.

Heading into New Year’s weekend, meteorologists warned that an inbound atmospheric river would pack a serious punch. Yet as my Times colleagues and I checked around the state, relatively few California residents seemed to be filling sandbags or stocking up on emergency supplies.

We’ve seen atmospheric rivers before, including a historically drenching one in Sacramento on Oct. 24, 2021. We could manage this New Year’s storm easily, we thought.

We could not.

Heavy gusts knocked down scores of trees. Many people lost electricity for days, a reminder of how overhead power lines and strong winds do not mix. Some saw their homes and cars destroyed. And the truly unfortunate lost their lives when floodwater inundated their vehicles or trees toppled onto them.

Intense storms continued to slam the state for two more weeks, each time compounding the problems from the previous downpours. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, and at least 19 people have died, more than during the past two years of wildfires, as Gov. Gavin Newsom has pointed out.

In California, natural disasters become markers in our lives, as well as lessons for navigating the future. I can recall the 1986 floods, when as an elementary school student, I realized for the first time the possibility that our region could quickly go underwater. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, experienced in the left-field seats at Candlestick Park, was the first time I really understood that we could not control the ground beneath us.

For others, there was the Northridge earthquake, the Montecito mudslide, the Camp fire. The Oroville Dam evacuation. The wine country fires.

These are moments that reshape our understanding of what it means to live in California, where natural disaster lives alongside natural beauty. And the recent storms serve as the latest alarm bell in an era of climate change.

A few days into the new year, residents took the situation more seriously as another big atmospheric river approached. So many people wanted sandbag supplies that some counties ran out. Bottled water and batteries flew off store shelves. Grocery stores had long checkout lines.

Most of us were fortunate enough to muddle through. We’ll gladly take the water that has flowed into our reservoirs and seeped into our soil. And we want more — just not immediately.

Folsom Lake, to the east of Sacramento, offers an example of trying to strike the right balance between serving our needs and avoiding disaster. As desperate as we are to store more water in a drought, the Bureau of Reclamation has to keep the reservoir empty enough to be able to avoid a catastrophic regionwide flood.

Forecasters say we’re approaching the end of an extraordinary three-week succession of atmospheric rivers. We now get a chance to clean up, repair and make preparations for future storms. It is a most welcome respite.

Kevin Yamamura is an editor on The Times’s National desk and oversees coverage of California. He is a longtime Sacramento resident.

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Where we’re traveling

Today’s tip comes from Andrea Jensen, who lives in Olympia, Wash.:

“We recently had a great vacation to Santa Barbara. Our crew: two parents in their 40s and a 3-year-old. Santa Barbara was the right mix of kid fun and adult fun. We went to the Moxi, Sea Center, Natural History Museum and the Museum of Art. The Natural History Museum had a dinosaur walk where our son could brush off buried dinosaur bones. He was also amazed by the bird hall and the rattlesnake. The Sea Center’s playful two-spotted octopus charmed all of us, as did the sea horses.

Helena Avenue bakery was wonderful. Topa Topa, the Nook and Fox Wine Co. were delicious and family-friendly. The sommelier at Fox Wine gave us a few kid-friendly recommendations. We were compelled to check a bag just to bring back a bottle of the 2021 Pinot Noir rosé. Shipwreck Playground was probably the highlight of the trip for our son. He made many friends throughout the week. I was appreciative of the family-friendly vibe, a warm welcome and tips/recommendations from the locals, the beautiful scenery, fresh food and crisp wine.”

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

And before you go, some good news

Native to the waters of Australia, sea dragons are a stunning and unusual fish. But they face a number of challenges in the wild because of warming oceans, harmful fishing practices and more.

In 2019, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography — part of U.C. San Diego — opened an exhibit intended to create an ideal habitat for breeding these colorful cousins of sea horses. And last week, the aquarium announced a breakthrough: the first successful transfer of eggs from a female sea dragon to a male.

As with sea horses, sea dragon males — not females — are responsible for carrying eggs. After a courtship dance, the female transfers the eggs to the male’s tail, where he fertilizes them and then carries them for four to six weeks until they hatch.

“We’re elated to be able to witness this at the aquarium,” Jenn Nero Moffatt, senior director of animal care, science and conservation at U.C. San Diego, said in a statement. “It’s extremely rare for sea dragons to breed in captivity, so this is a monumental milestone for all of our staff.”