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The recent California storms left the state battered and bruised, but that could just be a taster of things to come.
THE GIST:
* A number of factors could combine in the future culminating in a monster storm, making the recent bad weather look like a drop in the bucket.
* West Coast storms could get more frequent and severe with climate change.
* Scientists have modeled a 'Frankenstorm' scenario, where 8 feet of rain could be dumped over three weeks, paralyzing some areas.
Think the recent wild weather that hammered California was bad? Experts are imagining far worse.
As torrential rains pelted wildfire-stripped hillsides and flooded highways, a team of scientists hunkered down at the California Institute of Technology to work on a "Frankenstorm" scenario -- a mother lode wintry blast that could potentially sock the Golden State.
The hypothetical but plausible storm would be similar to the 1861-1862 extreme floods that temporarily moved the state capital from Sacramento to San Francisco and forced the then-governor to attend his inauguration by rowboat.
The scenario "is much larger than anything in living memory," said project manager Dale Cox with the U.S. Geological Survey.
In the scenario, the storm system forms in the Pacific and slams into the West Coast with hurricane-force winds, hitting Southern California the hardest. After more than a week of ferocious weather, the system stalls for a few days. Another storm brews offshore and this time pummels Northern California.
Such a monster storm could unleash as much as 8 feet of rain over three weeks in some areas, said research meteorologist Martin Ralph with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who is part of the project.
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