“We have to affect the behavior of millions and millions of individuals,” Jerrett said.
People concerned about the effects of climate change, Palecki said, are “righteously alarmed at the situation we’re facing.” “There’s been quite a bit of warming and quite a bit of drying on Southern California, that’s for sure,” said Michael Palecki, project manager for the climate normals at NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information. The Southern California News Group analyzed data from the 68 stations across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties that had both temperature and precipitation normals for both eras to compare how “normal” is changing. The new normals, based on the weather from 1991 to 2020, replace old normals based on conditions from 1981 to 2010. That assessment comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which recently updated what it considers “normal” weather at thousands of locations across the country. More triple-digit temperatures each year, too. Hotter especially in the late summer and fall months, and drier especially in November and March, traditionally the start and end of the region’s rainy season. Hotter and drier - those are the new normals for Southern California.
