Bakersfield Braces for a Rainy Winter

According to meteorologists, high levels of precipitation. How will this affect our community at Bakersfield? Ever since 2024, the precipitation levels were above 124% normal and rainy days were constant according to NBC Los Angeles. Ridgeview would definitely be affected due to the rain since the precipitation levels in this year’s winter are about to rise to a historical level that has never been reached and cause some problems to Kern county. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration it states that, “NOAA’s National Weather Service announced today that El Nino has developed in the tropical Pacific, and issued an El Nino Advisory. El Nino, the warm phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), is predicted to intensify to a moderate or strong level this fall.” This winter might help the city’s environment or cause more problems than we think.

Damion Arellano, a Freshman, talks about the safety of Bakersfield being affected. “Yeah the roads would need to be more enforced and many people drive without changing their tires so if cars have slip tires there will be many car accidents.” said Damion, showing genuine concern to the nearby season and this could affect the students due to causing more accidents or incidents with stopping. Damion describes what the rain will do to the students or the school environment. “Many kids find rain soothing or maybe stay inside longer,” Arellano pointed out. This would affect kids by causing them to calm down while doing work, or reading rather than pure silence. This would affect sports, practices, or physical education, possibly getting the day off or doing something else. The school he mentioned was going to be a bit more slippery due to puddles and students could get dirty on their way to class causing slight distraction or obstacles.

Johan Lancaster, a senior on Cross-country varsity, discussed the rain. When asked about the safety of not only Ridgeview but the city he stated, “ It could cause some problems to tractions and cars and if it comes to really really heavy rain where it’s almost like fog where you can’t see I would really hope they do it a fog delay just for the safety of everyone,” Lancaster explained. There are possible chances that we get fog or even flood delays according to KGET states, “Strong El Niños have caused more flooding in the past, with the effect more pronounced in recent decades. This comes as high-tide flooding has grown more common, regardless of the presence of El Niño.” Proving that there is a higher chance for warnings due to the, “Super El Nino.”

Edward Serrano is a teacher at Ridgeview High School who teaches Science and Astronomy classes for juniors and seniors. Serrano mentions that the rain is no problem for him, especially because he had training and missions in places much worse. His experience through hot deserts with limited food sources and jungles with high humidity and fungi, lead Serrano to believe that the rain isn’t something he’d worry about. When asked about how this colder weather may affect Ridgeview, he stated that it’s,“El Nino year and so it’s supposed to be heavier, we’ll see because we’re in a drought throughout the south in the United States.” Serrano mentioned the drought across the South and solidified his doubts about the rain being more of a positive upside giving the environment more moisture. Serrano also mentions, “I hope we have more moisture in the ground because we certainly need it.” The environment in Bakersfield is dry and rain will effectively be needed.

Winter is looking wetter which is a good thing to the environment causing droughts to thin out but could turn into a disaster if there are lots of floods due to the higher chances.

Bakersfield Braces for a Rainy Winter

Comments