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So far this year 4,636 wildfires in California have burned more than 200,000 acres. That’s more fires than this time last year and more fires than the five-year average. In fact, in the last few decades, the number of large fires are on the rise across the Western United States and the length of the fire season continues to expand. One of the biggest reasons for this is warming temperatures, which are impacting snowpack and ushering in an earlier spring. California has an added challenge of dealing with a five-year drought.

In an effort to quicken the pace of habitat restoration in California’s biggest estuary, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) invited private companies, non-profit groups and individuals to submit proposals to create wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Through a first-of-its-kind Request for Proposal (RFP), DWR seeks partners to help fulfill its obligations under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

There is an ominous presence in the waters off the Pacific Northwest and it has the potential to play havoc with ocean wildlife and could interfere with your winter plans. “The Blob,” a mass of warm water floating off the coast of northern Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska, is back, writes University of Washington atmospheric science professor Cliff Mass. But, in fact, the phenomenon never really left. Formed in 2013, Mass writes that the warm pool of ocean water occurs due to sustained high pressure over the region.

Winter made an early appearance Tuesday morning when snow fell on Sonora Pass and the craggy, highest heights of east Tuolumne County.Michael Todd Jones of Sonora was driving to work in the Bishop area, heading east up Highway 108 to the top of the 9,624-foot pass, the second-highest paved route over the Sierra Nevada range. With snowflakes coming down, dusting the ground and clinging to trees in the 6 a.m. hour, Jones used his iPhone 6 to snap a couple photos and texted them to his wife, Allison Jones, who was 65 miles west, down the hill in Sonora.