The science of weather is complicated, but it’s enthusiastic science journalists like Tom Yulsman who work to break down the details. Yulsman is currently a professor of journalism and director of the Center of Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

His piece “The Great Drenching” takes apart the different atmospheric and oceanic factors that led to California’s overwhelming precipitation from mid-December 2022 to mid-January 2023. A La Niña phenomenon had been projected for those months, which typically means dryness for California. The overwhelming rains were an anomaly.

“The ocean and atmosphere intersect with each other in so many ways—in such powerful ways,” Yulsman said. 

Following his own curiosity, he breaks down how a La Niña can be overridden by thunderstorms in the Indian Ocean, the jet stream, and a marine heatwave on top of a warming pool in the Pacific Ocean. 

In “The Great Drenching,” he compares weather trends to a roulette. Even if the odds are stacked against an outcome, that doesn’t mean it can’t never happen. So eventually, California floods despite the projected dryness of a La Niña. 

“Science is often not black and white,” said Yulsman. 

In a discussion with students, he mentions his frustration reading a press release for a scientific explanation that had lost all the scientific nuance of the original study. Hoping for scientific explanations to be covered with nuance and detail, he advises science writers to not rely on press releases. 

“It can lead you astray, and there may be really cool stuff in a scientific paper that might be useful to you.”

There are also nuances he decided to not include in his piece out of concern for how they could be interpreted.

Yulsman said, “That’s the dilemma of a science writer: what do you put in, and what do you leave out.”