Noah Diffenbaugh, Professor, Stanford University
Peter Gleick, President, The Pacific Institute
Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture

This program was generously underwritten by the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation.

California storms and droughts are getting more extreme, according to new research from Stanford examining recent rainfall patterns. The result is a new normal, with fewer average years and more dry times and also more wet times. Other forecasters warn that California might be entering an extended period of drought known as a megadrought. Uncertainty about changing rainfall is a challenge for the state’s water system built on the predictable arrival of snow and rain.

What is California doing to prepare for bigger storms and droughts? How can an average person use water more efficiently and think about the water embedded in their food? Join us for a conversation about California’s water future in strangely wet and dry times driven in part by the high-pressure system hanging off the coast called the "ridiculously resilient ridge."