Climate change did not produce California’s winter flooding that abruptly ended a devastating drought. That weather swing is just how California works. California has endured rotating cycles of wet and dry periods throughout its history. If there are weeks of deluge, a severe drought is on the way. It happens every decade or so. But climate change will bring more frequent and robust cycles of extreme weather. Bet on it. “All of our climate change calculations suggest wetter wets and drier dries,” says Jeffrey Mount, a water expert at the Public Policy Institute of California.