Climate change is coming for California’s famed bread basket. The Central Valley’s stone fruit and nut trees are set to suffer from less cool time in future winters, which would mean diminished yields. UC Davis researchers are predicting when that tipping point could come.  

Life was already precarious for residents of Pajaro. The after effects of a 2023 levee breach and extreme flooding continue to erode what little buffer against the unexpected they had. Will a long-delayed project to prevent future floods, finally gaining ground, be enough?

In California’s Central Valley, climate change’s consequences are on full display, from floods and wildfires to the return of a lost lake. These photos capture some of the cascading impacts on landscapes and local communities. 

Even though Dan Hoover’s been surveying the same stretch of San Francisco’s Pacific coast for 15 years on his ATV, it never looks the same. In summer it’s wider and in winter bumpier and narrower. With El Niño this year, and sea level rising, the beach will erode more than ever. 

KneeDeep profiles Arye Janoff and Bekah Lane. Janoff surfs and manages coastal dredging and restoration projects for the Army Corps; Lane monitors whales for The Marine Mammal Center. Climate change is their newest challenge.

After experiencing wildfire, severe storms, flooding, numerous widespread power outages, and even a snowstorm in the last three years, Point Arena residents have decided to take climate preparedness into their own hands. 

The Bay Area’s mild weather is a liability in the face of all kinds of growing heat risks, from temperature swings to hotter nights—both in the flatlands and in the hills. But what exactly—geography, surfaces, weather, buildings—helps the heat linger?

Warehouse workers, restaurant workers, and delivery drivers need heat protection. Businesses are pushing back. While California’s legislators have voiced concern, meaningful action has been slow to come—a planned Cal/OSHA vote to determine if protections will become law won’t happen until early next year.

There are few trees, public spaces and places to escape the unrelenting heat in the dry, dusty expanse of California’s eastern Coachella Valley. A master plan for shade equity, funded by a climate resilience grant and advised by the community’s local experiences, aims to change that.

The atmospheric rivers kept coming and coming this winter, so many I lost count. Soon I wished the torrential rains would just stop. But what, exactly, should California do to manage wet years? New research, policies, and infrastructure may help.

Seasonal extremes can be unnerving. Too much rain, too fast, is hard on both the human psyche and our aging drainage systems. As rural and urban communities absorb the shock of this winter’s storms, they are also preparing for more.

A lost lake, dry for 40 years, reemerged after this winter’s rains. As the Sierra snowpack melts, Tulare Lake could spread, prompting water managers and locals to imagine letting the lake recover. What would that look like?

Curtis Skene experienced loss and adaptation first hand after the deadly Montecito mudslide in 2018. The slide was triggered by a cascade of extreme events and climate change heightens the risk they will converge again.

When the CZU fires forced us to flee the house in the Santa Cruz mountains we had only lived in for nine months we knew exactly two of our neighbors. We had no idea how fire would later bring us together.

As they prepare for the fire seasons ahead, schools in Oakland, Sacramento and Santa Rosa are exploring different ways to make their facilities safe havens and resilience hubs for our youngest Californians, especially the most vulnerable.