California weather is rarely average. Historically, the state has well above or well below average rain and snow. One of the keys to prepare for these wild swings is a better understanding of atmospheric rivers. The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes or CW3E is at the heart of this research.
The state of Colorado has activated the municipal portion of its emergency drought plan for only the second time in history as several cities say they need to prepare for what is almost certainly going to be a dangerously dry 2021.
The quiet of morning broke as a battery of boats roared toward first light on the open water.
Dozens of anglers, competing in teams of two for the biggest bass they could find, disappeared beyond the weed beds and tule thickets into the maze of rivers and sloughs. Each was chasing a cash prize and the satisfaction of conquering one of the West’s premier spots for sportfishing: the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors voted Tuesday to spend another $58 million to support the study and design of an underground tunnel in the North Delta that would divert large amounts of fresh water and send it to municipalities and agribusinesses in southern California.
A new survey shows arsenic levels in public water are disproportionately high in certain U.S. communities, despite national regulatory standards designed to protect people from the harmful chemical. Researchers studied approximately 13 million records from 2006 to 2011 covering 139,000 public water systems in 46 states, Washington D.C., and Native American tribes.
While much of Washington remains mired in partisan gridlock, there is new cooperation in two areas critical to managing climate change: reducing carbon emissions from agriculture and shifting to electric vehicles.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom tapped a veteran regulator Wednesday as the next chair of the powerful Air Resources Board, which implements the state’s ambitious climate change goals.
The Trump administration on Thursday plans to hold the first oil lease sale in California in eight years, part of a last-minute rush to auction off as much federal land as possible before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.
California’s plans to build a new tunnel to move water from the northern Delta to the thirsty, populous south of the state advanced a step Tuesday, when a key partner agreed to help fund some of the effort. The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the largest treated water supplier in the nation, voted to pay nearly $59 million in 2021 and 2022 to the state Department of Water Resources to help move the project forward.
The latest outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests that California’s persistent drought-like conditions could last through the winter and into spring, possibly fueling another grueling fire season in 2021.
Currently, three-quarters of California is experiencing at least moderate drought conditions.
“Keep in mind, we’re coming off the driest May-through-October period, statewide at least, across California, Arizona and New Mexico,” said Mark Svoboda of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Nebraska.
Forecasting three to four months out is a dodgy proposition for scientists, but NOAA’s modeling shows the likelihood of relatively dry weather through February.
