Researchers launched weather balloons Tuesday off the coast of Hawaii in an unprecedented effort to discover how El Nino affects weather forecasts thousands of miles away.
Craig McLean, assistant NOAA administrator for NOAA Research, explained how the project hopes to collect data from the Pacific Ocean using a research plane, a NOAA ship and drones.
Bakersfield-area water districts that have been complaining they just can’t meet the state’s water conservation rules because it’s so hot and dry here are going to get some relief.
Four local water companies that have been required to cut their water use by 36 percent compared to the corresponding month in 2013 will instead have to reduce use by 33 percent starting March 1.
A group of central San Joaquin Valley agriculture, government and Latino leaders is raising an alarm about a proposed ballot initiative to take money away from high-speed rail and use it instead for water-storage projects in California.
Their opposition to the initiative – which is now being circulated for signatures to qualify for the November ballot – is rooted not in support for the controversial bullet-train project, but because the measure would also divert $2.7 billion in water-storage money from Proposition 1, a water bond act approved by more than two-thirds of California voters in 2014.
It’s February in California, but it’s been impossible to tell. Warm weather and a lack of rain has disappointed many Californians who expected El Nino would bust the state’s drought. Instead, the reestablishment of resilient weather patterns could mean the state’s drought will intensify through the next year and likely beyond. Ironically, El Nino itself could be responsible for the dry spell.
California has enjoyed the El Nino weather, with the return of rain and snow across the state following four years of epic drought. However, since mid-January, the return of high pressure off the coast has brought hot, dry weather back to the state in spite of El Nino.
The State Water Resources Control Board is expanding its 1 percent financing availability for recycled water projects to approximately $960 million.
The board says there’s increasing demand for the money as California continues to shore up its water supplies in the face of record-breaking drought.
San Francisco Bay Area commuters can expect a soggy drive home Wednesday.
The National Weather Service says that winds will increase throughout the day with rains starting mid-afternoon. Forecaster Steve Anderson in the service’s Monterey office says a wind advisory is in place until 7 p.m. tonight.
A three-day heat wave has delighted and perplexed people throughout drought-parched California, but a cold front moving in from Oregon should remind residents that it’s still winter.
Lawn has its limits, and so does our water supply. It may have taken four years of drought to convince us, but many Sacramentans are transitioning away from turf-heavy landscapes to something more river-friendly and resources-minded. And we can’t afford to let El Nino wash away our resolve.
Rain or no rain, California landscapes are definitely changing. We’re embracing our Mediterranean climate and the low-water plants that grow in it.
The rain made a comeback in the Bay Area Wednesday night.
Flooding could be seen on the skyway approaching the Bay Bridge. Pooling water made the night’s commute difficult for drivers headed out of the city.
The storm is bringing heavy winds. At one point, gusts on the Golden Gate Bridge reached 76 miles per hour. A wind advisory is in effect until 4 a.m.
The drenching rains and heavy snow from El Niño that forecasters predicted would put a dent in California’s lengthy drought are taking a hiatus this month.
A rather welcome, soggy January turned into a hot and dry February, raising doubts the climate pattern can deliver a much-needed respite to California’s now 5-year-old drought. The Department of Agriculture and Stanford University found the extreme dryness killed 29 million trees and left another 29 million at risk.
Farm groups are offering guarded praise for a new drought-response bill by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein that would provide funding for water storage and encourage more capturing of storm waters during wet winters.
The San Francisco Democrat proposes devoting $1.3 billion to long-term projects, including $600,000 in federal funds to augment potential Proposition 1 projects as the proposed Sites Reservoir near Maxwell, Calif., or the planned Temperance Flat Reservoir near Fresno.
