Southern California cleans up after the wettest recent Christmas season

More than 17in of rain fell in Ventura county, with trees felled and hundreds of car crashes throughout the regionSouthern Californians are facing an epic clean-up operation after the region’s wettest Christmas holiday in recent history turned areas of the state into a panorama of mud and debris.A year ago, record wildfires scorched the dry neighborhoods of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. But now, in what scientists call “hydroclimate whiplash”, the picture is reversed after an atmospheric river off the Pacific Ocean brought the elemental opposites of wind and rain. Continue reading...