About the Symposium

Purpose

The Symposium's primary purpose is to focus attention on extreme precipitation events in California watersheds responsible for producing floods and placing life and property at risk. We hope this attention will increase our knowledge and understanding of extreme precipitation events, so we can:
  1. Provide better information on the size of large floods for land use and flood risk management planning efforts, and
  2. Increase the warning time in advance of large floods.

The Symposium is designed to be an informal setting for an interesting day of scientific and technical presentations with time for questions and answers. The cost is kept low to encourage participation by a diverse audience.

History

The first Symposium was convened in 1994, and held annually thereafter (except for 2000). From 1994 to 2003, the Symposium was known as the California Weather Symposium. The name was changed in 2004 to the California Extreme Precipitation Symposium to acknowledge our emphasis on extreme precipitation. From the initial gathering of 55 weather aficionados, participation has grown to over 200.

Over the years our consistent focus has been on precipitation as the varying annual amount from droughts to floods is the most interesting aspect of weather in the Golden State. Flooding is of primary concern to government agencies responsible for protecting life and property located in California's floodplains and the private sector professionals assisting them.

In 2003, the Symposium was invited to be part of the larger Lower American River Science Conference and in 2005 and 2007 the American River Watershed Conference, each organized by the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, California State University, Sacramento.