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If there is anything that might constitute an overwhelming institutional consensus in California, it’s that we are experiencing climate change, and that one of the consequences will be more rain, less snow, and more so-called whiplash between very wet years and very dry years.

In an average year these days, 30 million acre feet of water flows through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But nearly half of that water comes down in the form of a melting Sierra snowpack which in an average year holds 15 million acre feet of water. This snowmelt fills the reservoirs and feeds the rivers from April through June. With climate change, so we’re told, the volume of runoff won’t change. But we’ll get almost all of it in the three months of winter. Do we have a system to handle winter flows into the delta that are twice today’s volume?

The deadly floods in Central Texas, which had killed more than 100 people as of Tuesday afternoon, have become a flashpoint for discussions of government preparedness for flood emergencies. Kerr County abandoned efforts to build a more robust warning system, reportedly due to budget issues; officials also appear not to have issued evacuation orders at the start of the flood.

But one expert tells Governing that local officials across the country should also be using this moment to reflect on the need for updated water infrastructure, the first line of defense for communities experiencing extreme rain events.

It’s time to break out the fans and frozen treats as a midweek hot spell is heading to Southern California with temperatures up to 10 degrees above normal expected across the region on Wednesday and Thursday.

The worst of the L.A. County heat is forecast for the San Fernando, Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, where temperatures are expected to sit in the 90s and potentially push into the triple digits, according to the National Weather Service.

Water levels at some of the United States’ largest reservoirs are well below average for this time of year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR).

Lake Mead was 31 percent full as of June 29, with just over eight million acre-feet of water in storage, according to the data.