El Niño has started. Preparations must too

California rarely sees the types of hurricanes and storms that routinely pummel Florida, Louisiana and Texas. But on August 20th tropical slammed into it from the south. Unprecedented amounts of rain pelted downtown Los Angeles and flooded the state’s arid valleys. Without missing a beat, forecasts then shifted from drenching to baking, as a heat dome fastened itself over much of the southern United States all the way up to the Great Lakes.Barely a day has gone by this summer without news of some extreme weather somewhere in the world. Although weather is always breaking records, that raises fears of what it will be like when the climate warms further. To add to the alarm, America’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration announced the , a climate pattern that shows up every two to seven years and raises global temperatures.