HOUSTON – I spent some time with Dr. Daniel Swain, a Climate Scientist with UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He spoke at Operation Sierra Storm, a weather conference in South Lake Tahoe, California. We discussed what he calls, “weather whiplash.” How a warmer world is leading to more weather extremes. He said Houston is ground zero. Here is his interview. Please let me know what you think below or at: @kprc2anthony on X, Facebook or Instagram.
Swain is a climate scientist focused on the dynamics and impacts of extreme events—including droughts, floods, storms, and wildfires—on a warming planet. He holds joint appointments as a research scientist within UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, a research fellow in the Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and as the California Climate Fellow at The Nature Conservancy. He engages extensively with journalists and other partners, serving as a climate and weather science liaison to print, radio, television, and web media outlets to facilitate broadly accessible and accurate coverage surrounding climate change and the broader Earth system. Swain is an alumnus of the University of California, Davis (B.S., Atmospheric Science) and of Stanford University (Ph.D., Earth System Science), and completed his postdoctoral work at UCLA. He also authors the Weather West blog (weatherwest.com), which provides real-time perspectives on California and western North American weather and climate, and can be found on X, formerly Twitter (@Weather_West).