weather scientists warns of a possible megaflood as a result of continue it climate change and daniel swain joins us to discuss that in the report and bay area-based author dave edgar's talks about one of his books being banned in a school district in south dakota. will talk to him and his other leaders of his nonprofit which is celebrating 20 years of teaching you how to write everything from science fiction to essays to poems. >>> it's a better fund version the school. >> the vibrant colors and images of women working, leading, and creating in the women's building merrill and this is something beautiful this week. coming to you from kqed headquarters in san francisco on this friday, august 19, 2022. >>> hello and welcome. i am priya david clemens and this is kqed newsroom. we have talked about drought and wildfire and this week another threat took center stage, the megaflood and a new study indicates that california could be in for torrential storms that last for weeks overwhelming rivers and causing havoc in urban areas and one of the study's authors daniel swain joins us now from boulde

and experts say this will only get worse as climate change worsens, but ucl a climate scientist, daniel swain says we still have time to solve this. >> i think the good news in all of this is that this is still eminently solvable. problem. the earth is warming because of the carbon were emitting into the atmosphere. the earth will essentially stop warming almost immediately when we stop putting that additional carbon into the atmosphere. >> he says climate change is at work in 2 different ways here. biggest way. it's simple physics as the atmosphere warms the atmosphere holds more water and as the air warms it, soaks up more water from dry ground. >> well, the bay area's under an air quality advisory today as smoke from the 6 rivers lightning complex fire burning up in com, humboldt county just drifts down to us here. the blaze has now burned more than 27,000 acres. it is 80% contained. >> chief meteorologist lawrence karnow with us now. anecdotally it air quality doesn't seem bad here in the bay today. yeah. doesn't see bad at all. most air quality centers around the bay area, least at the s

i spoke earlier with climate scientist daniel swain. >> sounds a little paradoxical to be talking aboutssentially a historic drought in california and the southwestern united states but it may be a little bit less paradoxical than it might seem at first glance, because we know that, in a warming climate, the water of april holding potential of the atmosphere increases rapidly with rising temperatures so, that's one of the main reasons why the risk of an extreme flood event in california is going up in the atmosphere can hold more water vapor, essentially raising the ceiling on how intense is a petition can become. but it doesn't necessarily increase precipitation all the time. in fact, that very same mechanism, the increase in the water vapor holding the potential of the atmosphere, also increases the severity of droughts. think of it like the atmosphere acting as a giant sponge. it can soak up more water, potentially, and squeezing out in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, but the rest of the time, is just extracting more moisture, leading to more drought. >> so, what would a a

daniel swain co-authored a study at ucla's institute of the environment and sustainability. he said flood risks increases >> i thi the highest king tides you seen and add a foot or two on top of that and then add an additional increment of flooding risk coming from all the water that will be rushing down from the hills from the rainfall. you'd see a significant amount of flooding on the bay shore. kumasi: it's hard to pinpoint the exact timing. scientists say a decade of severe floods is expected to happen some time in the next 30 years. swain says the focus of future studies will be to figure out how much it will cost to prepare for the crises. reggie: your voice your vote. it's primary day in alaska and wyoming where incumbents are fighting to keep their job. congresswoman liz cheney is set to lose her seat. >> reporter: former president trump is expected to achieve his biggest political victory since losing the white house. liz cheney is expected to be defeated. she was one of ten house republicans who voted to impeach trump. she's vice chair on the committee on the eve o

daniel swain co-opted this study at ucla's institute of the environment and sustainability saying thatod risk increases when wildfires burn g storm runoff to overwhelm the rivers and streams. crement of floin down from the hills and rainfall and coastal mountains. you see a significant amount of flooding along the bayshore. kumasi: it is hard to pinpoint the exact timing but a decade of severe floods is expected sometime in the next 30 years. he says the focus of future studies be figuring out how much it will cost to prepare for the crisis. reggie: your voice, your vote, it is primary day in alaska and wyoming where incumbents are fighting to keep their jobs. we are especially looking at wyoming where liz cheney is set to lose her seat over her votes to impeach former president trump. jobina: former president trump is expected to achieve his biggest political victory. liz cheney is expected to be defeated in the state's primary. she was one of 10 house republicans who voted to impeach trump and his vice chair for the committee investigating the january 6 insurrection. many republicans