Shasta, Lake Oroville Rise to the Top
California when it rains: water cooler talk.
Both Lake Oroville and Lake Shasta reported near-full capacity Monday with plenty of snow in the northern mountains anticipated to melt.
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Graphs Show Rise in Lake Mead’s Water Levels
Lake Mead’s levels have risen as planned, after a large amount of water was released from the Glen Canyon Dam.
The Glen Canyon Dam forms Lake Powell, the huge Colorado River reservoir that lies between Arizona and Utah.
What We Know About the Bill That Could Limit Las Vegas Water Use
A sweeping water conservation bill that would give Las Vegas Valley water managers the unprecedented ability to limit how much water single-family residential homes in Southern Nevada could use continues to make its way through the state Legislature.
Scientists Take Flight to Map California’s Vast Snowpack and Measure Flooding Threats
Flying thousands of feet above the Sierra Nevada in a plane equipped with specialized imaging devices, Elizabeth Carey has been scanning the mountains with lasers to precisely map the snow.
The snow blanketing the Sierra lies so deep that the mountain range looks surprisingly swollen and “puffy,” said Carey, who leads the flights as part of a state-funded program.
El Niño Is Coming in Strong, NOAA Says
El Niño almost here, the global shift is likely to stick around until this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week. After an unusual three-year La Niña, all signs are pointing to changes in weather patterns for 2023.
Marin Municipal Water District Defends Plan for Huge Rate Hike
The Marin Municipal Water District is poised to adopt one of its largest rate hikes in decades on Tuesday — a move that will increase water costs for customers by about 20% — but staff costs are not the driver, utility officials said.
The Fate of the Imperiled Colorado River and Attempts to Mitigate Disaster
A water shortage on the Colorado River has put tremendous strain on the states that rely on it as a main water source. The fate of California’s Salton Sea is tied to the future of the river, and a catastrophic drought has only worsened conditions.
New California Budget Means a $6 Billion Cut, and Future Uncertainty, for Climate Spending
For climate advocates, the growing state deficit unveiled in the revised 2023-24 state budget offers some bad news, some good news and a great deal of uncertainty.
The bad news in the budget presented Friday morning by Gov. Gavin Newsom is that, despite lobbying efforts and environmentalists pitching at least two alternative proposals, the $6 billion in cuts to climate spending that Newsom proposed in January are still included.
El Niño is Coming: What it Means for California Weather
El Niño conditions — the warming of ocean waters off South America that can alter weather across the globe, including California’s summer temperatures and the amount of rain it might receive next winter — are emerging in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in 4 years.
While El Niños do not automatically guarantee wet weather for California, historically, the stronger they are, the more likely it is that the state will have a rainy winter season. And after the dramatic series of storms this past winter that ended the drought and filled nearly empty reservoirs, another one back-to-back could increase flood risks.
Wildfires May Have Stoked Rare ‘Triple-Dip’ La Niña
In 2019, Australian skies glowed crimson in one of the country’s worst recorded fire seasons. The infernos blackened some 190,000 square kilometers of land, killing dozens of people along with an estimated 1 billion animals and destroying thousands of structures. The bushfires also unleashed plumes of smoke so voluminous they could be seen from space.
