>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ julian: good afternoon. i'm julian glover. you are watching "getting answers" on abc7. every day, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time. today we have a friend of the show, special correspondent dr. patel here to talk about mental health awareness month this month of may. from the loneliness epidemic declared to breaking the stigma and children's mental health, we will be talking about it all. and as we head into this mother's day weekend, we will be taking a look at fun things to do with mom. we things to do this weekend. we are learning about an unsuspecting culprit behind our

record rain season in the bay area. wildfires that burned thousands of miles away from us. the flames from australia's historic wildfires in 2018 and 2020 could have caused a really wet winter. those are the findings of scientists and the national center for atmospheric research. the lead researcher for the group is joining us live now. we appreciate your time. thank you for joining us. these historic wildfires in australia that potentially affect our weather pattern here, that happened four years ago at this point. can you jog your memory a bit? how big of a deal where these fires? -- were these fires? >> before the pandemic came about, we had these massive fires in australia. for climate scientists, that is the news of the day, they burned nearly 4,000,000 acres in australia. a large fire in california may be a 1,000,000 acres. and that smoke spread around the southern hemisphere. when it did so, it brightened clouds are on the southern

hemisphere t oeffects which eveo an el niño events in the pacific ocean. our memory. you said before the pandemic and it feels like a lifetime ago. but we are only talking about those fires that happened i believe in june of 2019 through january of 2020. it was that particulate matter, all of that ash that eventually meddled with our weather pattern somehow, how did it happen? >> in the bay area, you have had experience with these apocalyptic sort of orange skies with lots of smoke in the sky, lots of particulates. clouds need particulates to form. in the southern hemisphere where they'r -- where there are not a lot of cars, these small particles winds around the hemisphere and actually provided those particulates for the clouds to form. so as a result, you had more clouds and brighter clouds and that cooled off the southern hemisphere. the closest analogy is probably

volcanic eruption. when you have a major volcanic eruption, you got a lot of that ash into the stratosphere and that reflects and cools off the hemisphere. this one was rather unique. julian: we will certainly never forget that day that the skies turned orange here across the bay area. very distantly, i remember doing the -- i remember distinctly doing the morning show and it was dark outside. it is interesting to know th wi0 acres burning in australia that led to those changes in our weather pattern here. and of course that historic day we will never forget. you mentioned a la niña and el niño weather pattern. can you remind us of what a la niña is? >> very cold conditions in the eastern pacific ocean. the all -- the anomalies are in the degree of cooling, maybe 2° of cooling. but the following effects really affect the weather globally. so you get drought in some areas and floods in other areas.

and typically southern california has a drought during a la niña. the two years before this previous what you -- wet year were a la niña and consistent with a la niña event, you had dry conditions all over the western u.s.. that changed this year. this past winter is an aberration from the la niña cycle. it is a wet condition when you expect drought, and that happens. the climate system is a noisy place. julian: explain this triple la niña. if i understand the findings of the report correctly, that is what led to this historic, record-setting wet winter we had here in the bay area. >> it's definitely loaded the dyson that way. the three year la niña we had is actually unusual. usually la niñas last for a year or two but this one was three years old. the rebound to el niño is typically will you will get the

wet conditions in california and that is what you are seeing now. but the specific conditions of this winter are probably independent of la niña and el niño and just relate to how the atmosphere is behaving in its own sort of random chaotic way. we expect going forward with el niño that you will probably have more moisture in the near future but it's always a bit uncertain. julian: we are so used to hearing the word "unprecedented" in so many facets of life as of late. it sounds like you are saying that's what we've seen with this triple la niña. and of course the historic weather rain event that happened throughout the winter this year. as we think about these historic wildfires in california in recent years, thinking back to 2020, the north bay on the south become i remember covering those in the frontline. is it possible that those fires also affected those weather patterns that we are seeing here now three years later? >> that's right. the smoke that you get locally in the bay area's from the fires

in california, local smoke. but it's associated with la niña. we expect dry, hot conditions in california during la niña increasing the odds for fire weather. as long as you have fuel around to burn, and sometimes following wet years, you grow access fuel, it's ready to burn, then the lending it kicks in and you have dry, warm weather, that is the perfect storm for fires. if the summer ends up being very dry and warm, certainly the fuel is the from the wetre -- ther from the wet months we had recently. julian: some folks are it is out of sight, out of mind when it comes to fire season this year but we've got all that water at once and we haven't had too much rain as of recently so there are concerns the brush could be drying out once again. i want to reference the report you all put out. ncar, saying the relationship between wildfires and la niña made

more frequent. this sounds like a dangerous feedback loop. can you explain this connection? >> as climate changes, you have warmer temperatures typically overland. we hear about 1° warming. doesn't sound like much. but the downside is exemplified overland. you might get 2° were every 30° for every 1° of global warming. -- 3° for e global warming. as you go into the future under climate change, depending on how much warming we get, you will have this increase of fire weather. and just how much fires will increase in intensity and in is going to be a focus going forward for the next few years. julian: it's interesting to hear you say it'll be a focus going forward. i'm curious as to what additional studies can be conducted to try and predict some of this, as it appears that this could become a more regular

event that we experience. >> yes, our tools are limited. one of the things we want to do is improve climate models, they have a component that represent the atmosphere and a component that represents the ocean and the land. only recently, the land models have gotten to a point where they can represent these fires and how sensitive they are to whether and how much -- weather and how much emissions will be provided into the atmosphere. now that we have these models improving, we can turn on the fire components, so the fire emissions are provided back into the atmosphere. and that's really what's needed to either predict el niño or la niña or to predict climate change. we think these things may interact with clouds. but we don't really know how yet. that's a major research question. julian: i appreciate your time. thank you so much for explaining this in an easy way that we can all comprehend, obviously as we have to be concerned about more and more of these wildfires here locally and also abroad. this could be an event that we

continue to see. we appreciate your time. thank you. . >> thank you for covering our work julian: up next, from the loneliness epidemic to breaking the stigma and children's mental health, our special correspondent dr. patel is joining us live in the studio to talk about mental health awareness month.

julian: may is mental health awareness month. all month long, we are focusing on leading discussions on mental health and connecting you with helpful resources. one of the best resources we have here at abc7 news is correspondent dr. patel, joining us live in the studio. >> such an honorable introduction. i appreciate that. julian: i meant every single

word of it. let's start talking about a really important topic of mental health in kids. the cdc found the emergency room visits for mental health crises in kids 12 to 17 has declined in 2022 compared to 2021 numbers. what do you make of that? going in the right direction, but what do you make of the findings? >> going in the right direction but there is still an underlying massive problem we have to address. you don't just stop and celebrate the 10% with a fire, you still have 90% left. incidence is up thoughts and drug overdoses but everything that is underlying, we stopped to focus on. julian: it is such an important topic as we think about all that kids have been through during the pandemic. i just can't even imagine their understanding of the world around them right now. as we look at the numbers from

the cdc report, it is still not lower than 2019. the 2022 numbers are 2021 but not better than pre-pandemic numbers. >> some of those numbers including opioid overdoses are actually higher than they were in 2019. we have to take a step back and see what the pandemic really exposed. it expose a lot of disparities and it exposed the fact that depending on what zip code you are born in, your ability to get resources greatly differs from one another. this is why in 2021, the surgeon general and several organizations declared a youth mental health national crisis. it is going to take an all hands on deck approach and not only at the facility of saying we need more mental health resources, we also have to focus on capturing kids earlier. early intervention. checking in with your kids. if you can reach a mental health professional, talk to your primary care provider, text therapy, the 988 hotline.

julian: what are some of the things that you can do as a parent to really check in with your kid and have those open and honest discussions? if they do need help, they feel comfortable coming to you so you can get that help. >> build that trust with your child, make sure you are a place that they can go to without feeling judged. sometimes a parent might not be the best resource for children as well. i'm talking to anyone out there interacting with kids whether you are a coach, a babysitter, a stranger who happens to be sitting next to a kid, it does not matter, saying :h -- "hi" can make them feel supported. there are so many resources online they can go to, talk and text therapy. julian: there is so much room for ai when it comes to therapy and that nature. >> you are going deep on me. julian: which might be more

comfortable for some kids these days, that are so used to being on their phones and texting. >> you have to meet kids where they are, if that is what they are comfortable doing, it is a great place to start early intervention. julian: i want to continue to zero in on this generation of new graduates. with a lot of hustle graduations coming up the next few weeks -- high school graduations coming up the next few weeks. there an ongoing teacher day seven, they have been out of school for another weekend they have two weeks left of school. they were during school -- they were in school during the pandemic and had to learn remotely for two years. i can't imagine what kids are going through. >> to even have parents saying, wait two more weeks. it is an important point to capture those kids who may need extra help. may need support or a watchful eye for anything related to a mental health struggle. losing schools is losing an

important public health measure. we saw this happen throughout the pandemic. some suspect the numbers are going down because school started to reopen. i hope those kids who need support find it elsewhere. julian: such a great and important point there. we should all be looking out each other. if you see someone is down and might be in need of help, say, "let's talk about it." this takes me to the u.s. surgeon general declaring loneliness an epidemic in our country. that's a shocking headline, that loneliness is an epidemic here in the u.s. >> shocking headline. not a shocking problem. this was first presented to a white house task force formed in 1978. this has been going on for five decades.

1600's, 1700's, used as a form of torture. now, social isolation has gone up and household family engagement, social engagement with friends and companionship have gone down. loneliness is pervasive. such as being physically isolated from someone but also feeling alienated. like you don't have the support unit. -- the support you need. it is a huge issue affecting all walks of life. julian: i hate to always scapegoat social media. >> it's easy to. julian: but you do see sometimes, people sitting around a table not talking to each other, just texting, just searching on their phone, using twitter or facebook, whatever it might be. i want to shift and talk about the pandemic also. do we think the pandemic could be fueling this epidemic of loneliness? obviously you said this has been going back decades.

how much is the pandemic? how much is social media and our smartphones? >> during the pandemic, there's that a sing about 40% of americans said they felt lonely at some point. i certainly did. i don't know how lonely you felt during the pandemic. it is the pandemic increased the incidence of loneliness. is been around for a long time. -- it's been around for a long time. a lot of people do find support on social media. people who i mentioned earlier who may feel alienated might go on social media, whether they have a chronic illness or they are part of a certain cultural community, they find their tribe on social media. so i don't want to completely push the internet aside. there are great tools, but at some point to pay attention to what people are doing online, making sure it is appropriate for them. julian: as we think about how some folks are able to find that

community online, thinking about kids and springtime, i know you are very concerned about it. >> she is allowed to watch sports. she's allowed to watch us on television. julian: because dad wants to watch sports. >> there's a physics lesson involved in sports. there's productivity. julian: general tips to make sure we are there for each other during mental health awareness month. especially as we talk about the epidemic of loneliness. >> it's extremely important. chronic loneliness -- 50% increase in dementia, it is linked to a lot of o anheesanwe can looout for sharing sive emoonnet youroo talking to strangers may help as well.

that might just boost someone else's mood and fight the epidemic of loneliness. julian: dr. your time. coming up here, looking for some ideas for mother's day? ideas for mother's day? johnny fun (bell dinging) how's john? oh, much better. that was quite a scare. got us thinking about a lot of things. like life insurance. if something happened to either one of us, we'd really be in trouble. but where can we get coverage with john's health problems on a fixed income? go with a sure thing. colonial penn. friends have been telling friends about colonial penn guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance for more than 50 years, and with good reason. if you're between the ages of 50 and 85, it's a sure thing. your acceptance is guaranteed because full benefits are not paid in the first two years.

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(bell dings) same time next week? sure thing. julian: don't forget it is mother's day this a time to celebrate all things mom and let her know how much you care. joining us live to share great ideas for this weekend is johnny funcheap. the founder of funcheap.com. thanks for joining us. >> happy to be here. julian: many families left to head to the exploratorium for mother's day, what's happening there? >> let's start with something that is rare and free, which is the free day at the explorato

rium, it is one free day a year on mother's day. there's a ton of legal -- ton of collectivities. you can get free tastings mexican hot chocolate. it's not exactly free, it is pay what you can. but if what you can pay is nothing, you got it completely for free on mother's day. julian: if you're looking for something less expensive, that's a great opportunity for you. what else is going on if you are an adult and you are looking to take mom out to celebrate? >> this one is a great one. heading down to pacifica. it's not for a couple of things. having the world's most beautiful taco bell. it's also where you can get free whiskey tastings for mom on mother's day. there's a distillery about half a block from the beach. they are offering free

whiskey tastings for mom. you can get to tastings -- two tastings for free. it is a little to find this place. it looks like a plumbing supply store. but don't worry. follow the signs. it's just three dollars. julian: this sounds like a great one. that is the most beautiful taco bell in the world. [laughter] such a great location. we know that moms love flowers on mother's day. in san francisco, there is an annual event at golden gate park. tell us about that. >> it takes place at the hall of flowers. you can't talk about mother's day without talking about roses. this is the 82nd annual san francisco mother's day rose show. they will fill the whole of flowers with some of san francisco's best blooms. it's been a challenging year weatherwise for roses.

he will see the best of this year -- you will see the best of this year's competition, the smallest rose, the largest rose, the blackest rose. it ends at around 4:00 p.m., usually they have b you to take home for a small donation. you can get some gorgeous roses for your mom. so if you forgot to pick up some, go to golden gate park and try to buy some of the city's best blooms for cheap. julian: that is such a good idea. it will smell amazing and look fabulous. great idea right there. i'm also thinking about the rose garden in oakland between oakland and grand avenue. what are some other good spots to check out roses, too? >> if you don't want to head down to san francisco, there are tons of beautiful rose gardens all over the bay area.

the rose garden is gorgeous in oakland, just off of grand avenue. they have water features, and it's also about a lot of birds. it's like a sanctuary for birds. they should have thousands of exotic roadss blooming. -- exotic roses blooming. there is the san jose municipal rose garden open until an hour past sunset. and the san jose heritage rose garden in waterloo by gardens north of downtown. -- downtown. it's a great place to go have a picnic or stroll through on the cheap and show your mom a beautiful and rose-smelling time. julian: these are fantastic ideas. what is the easiest and best place for folks to go to see some more ideas for mother's day? >> we've got tons of events

and you can see them all at funcheap.com. julian: we appreciate your time, johnny funcheap. fantastic ideas for us to do with mom this mother's day. you can get our live newscast, breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. it's available on apple tv, google tv, fire tv, and roku. all you have to do is just search "abc 7 bay area" and download it now.

julian: thank you so much for joining us today for "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at 3:00 p.m. answering questions with experts from around the bay area in real time. "world news tonight" with david muir is next. take care.

♪ >> tonight the verdict in the chilling case, the mother accused of killing her own children with her new husband. also at this hour, the tornado warnings and watches right now. they are warning of a particularly dangerous situation. we'll take you through the next the grandparents outside court with a final message after their loss. in new york city, the former marine in court,ed with manslaughter after the chokehold on a new york city subway. jordan neely later died. and that penny surrenderin