This post examines recent warnings from meteorologists and California water officials about a developing La Niña pattern and what it could mean for the remainder of 2025.
I translate the technical signals — cooler eastern tropical Pacific waters and changing ocean-atmosphere interactions — into practical expectations for communities, water managers, and emergency planners across the state.
La Niña’s signature: alternating extremes
La Niña is characterized by cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center has signaled that such a pattern is emerging.
These Pacific shifts typically amplify variability: some years tilt toward drought, others toward intense storm sequences.
What Californians should expect
Expect a season of contrasts: long dry stretches interspersed with potent storm systems, including atmospheric rivers that can deliver enormous volumes of rain and snow over short periods.
Historically, La Niña winters in California tend to be drier overall than El Niño or neutral years.
Warming of the atmosphere and oceans means the storms that do occur are often more intense and carry higher flood potential.
Implications for drought, flood risk, and water management
That combination — more frequent dry spells plus rarer but stronger storms — creates a challenging two-fold risk: increased probability of drought conditions punctuated by episodic flooding and debris flows.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has been clear that warming trends raise the stakes: lower overall precipitation can mask severe regional impacts even when statewide totals look average.
Operational steps being taken
State agencies are preparing on multiple fronts to limit both humanitarian and infrastructure impacts.
Director Karla Nemeth and DWR teams are emphasizing a broad readiness posture that spans wildfire response, urban flooding, levee integrity, and emergency logistics.
DWR’s key preparations include:
Regional outlook and uncertainty
Forecasters expect below-average rainfall in parts of the Bay Area between January and March.
Oceanic and atmospheric interactions remain complex and can modulate the strength and track of incoming storms.
Even a single strong atmospheric river can wipe out months of water savings while triggering catastrophic floods, landslides, and infrastructure stress.
Preparing communities and infrastructure
Communities should interpret these forecasts as a call to prepare for both ends of the spectrum.
Mitigation measures include maintaining defensible space to reduce wildfire risk during dry intervals.
Ensuring local drainage systems are cleared ahead of predicted storms is important.
Having evacuation and communication plans ready for rapid-onset flooding is also essential.
Water managers will need flexible water operations: conserving for prolonged dry spells while preserving buffer capacity in reservoirs.
This helps absorb potential big storm inflows without downstream damage.
Here is the source article for this story: California facing ‘extreme weather events’ due to La Niña