As the first winter storms rolled through this month, a King Air C90 turboprop aircraft contracted by the hydropower company Idaho Power took to the skies over southern Idaho to make it snow.
Flying across the cloud tops, the aircraft dropped flares that burned as they descended, releasing plumes of silver iodide that caused ice crystals to form and snow to fall over the mountains.
Groundwater in Calif.’s Central Valley is at risk of being depleted by pumping too much water during and after droughts, according to a new study in the American Geophysical Union journal Water Resources Research.
The study finds that groundwater storage recovery has been dismal after the state’s last two droughts, with less than a third of groundwater recovered from the drought that spanned 2012 to 2016.
The U.S. Supreme Court found that Tennessee didn’t steal groundwater from Mississippi, in a dispute with wide-ranging implications for how states manage natural resources.
The justices in Mississippi v. Tennessee said in a unanimous decision that interstate groundwater is covered by equitable apportionment, which is the standard process by which water resources are shared.
It’s the high court’s first use of the equitable apportionment doctrine related to interstate groundwater.
Denver officially broke its all-time record for the latest first measurable snow when the Mile High City reported no snowfall on Sunday, surpassing a record that had stood since Nov. 21, 1934. AccuWeather meteorologists say that it could be weeks before the next chance for significant accumulation in the city.
San Francisco’s robust water supply, long unruffled by the severe dry spell now in its second year, has finally begun to feel the pinch of drought, and city water managers are recognizing it may be time to cut back.
Officials at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission plan to ask city residents and businesses to reduce water use by 5%, compared to two years ago, and ask the more than two dozen communities that buy water from the city to reduce water use nearly 14%. The goal is a cumulative 10% savings.
Segal’s Law: “Someone with one watch knows what time it is. Someone with two watches is never sure.” Time is certain, but its estimation and measurement are uncertain, yet we are not in total ignorance. Many water management and regulation decisions require an understanding of current and future hydrology.
You may have seen it on social media or heard it while talking to a friend: This is a La Niña year, so California won’t get any rain this winter and the severe drought is only going to get worse. Right?
Maybe not. Although that’s a common belief, it’s not supported by past history. The reality is that a lot depends on where you live.
Caught in one of the driest two-year stretches in state history and with long-range weather forecasts coming up mostly empty, the key players battling California’s drought have plenty to be concerned about.
Whether it’s plunging reservoir levels, crumbling canals, empty wells or salmon die-offs, the water woes that have plagued the state for decades have returned forcefully during the pandemic.
The West could be facing a water shortage in the Colorado River that threatens a century-old agreement between states that share the dwindling resource.
That possibility once felt far off, but could come earlier than expected. One prominent water and climate scientist is sounding the alarm that the Colorado River system could reach that crossroads in the next five years, possibly triggering an unpredictable chain-reaction of legal wrangling that could lead to some water users being cut off from the river.
California is likely to emerge from the winter with little relief from drought, federal climate experts said Thursday, setting the stage for a third year of dry weather and continuing water shortages. The monthly climate report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects that drought conditions will persist in almost all of California through February. With the next three months historically the state’s wettest, the opportunity for drought recovery is essentially lost.
