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Colorado Rethinks Dam Safety as Climate Change Heightens Risk for State’s 27 “Unsatisfactory” Structures

/in , , /by /The Fort Morgan Times (Fort Morgan, Colo.)by Bruce Finley

A climate-driven shift toward extreme storms has compelled Colorado officials to rethink the safety of hundreds of dams across the state that hold water and mine waste, including 27 high-hazard structures near people that already are listed as deficient.

They’re trying to calculate the potential for sudden hard rain resulting in flooding and accelerated erosion that could trigger fatal collapses.

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Storm to Set Up ‘Firehose Effect’ With Rain, Mountain Snow in California

/in , , /by /AccuWeatherby Alex Sosnowski

A storm currently along the California coast is loaded with moisture and will slam the northern part of the state with inches of rain and yards of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the first couple of days of December.

The storm will be double-barreled in nature with the first part set to slam Northern California into Monday afternoon. The second phase is likely to focus on Southern California during Tuesday night and Wednesday.

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San Francisco Bay Dredging Fuels an Unexpected Concern: Climate Change

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicle by Kurtis Alexander

What began as an unremarkable bid to deepen a shipping channel in San Francisco Bay, making it easier for cargo vessels to come and go, has become a flash point in the debate over climate change.

Environmental groups are blasting plans by the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge 13 miles of waterways inside the Golden Gate because the work would benefit ships delivering oil to East Bay refineries.

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New Monitoring Program Hopes to Boost Science on Colorado River Headwaters

/in , /by /KAWC (Yuma, Ariz.)by Luke Runyon

A new federal program hopes to fill in knowledge gaps on how water moves through the headwaters of arguably the West’s most important drinking and irrigation water source.

The U.S. Geological Survey announced the next location for its Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) will be in the headwaters of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers. It’s the second watershed in the country to be part of the program, after a successful pilot on the Delaware River started last year.

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Threat of Mudslides Returns to California After Devastating Fires. How Do They Work?

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rong-Gong Lin II, Joseph Serna, Rosanna Xia

With parts of California yet again burned by severe fires, the state is facing a new winter of mudslides.

Why do mudslides happen so often in California?

Mudslides have always been at the heart of the peril of living close to the mountains in California. All it can take is an intense amount of rain in a short amount of time to create damaging flows of mud and debris that can kill people and destroy buildings.

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Tale Of Three Regions: Study Probes Drought-Forced Change In Water Policies

/in , /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena, Calif.)by Nick Cahill

Aside from advanced economies and Mediterranean climates that sustain long growing seasons, California, Spain and Australia share an intermittent feature that reshapes their overburdened water systems every time it rears its ugly head: drought.

As populations and the demand for both rural and urban water supplies increase, so have the damaging impacts of droughts and water shortages. A recent series of bitterly dry stretches have forced lawmakers in the different continents to scrap outdated approaches and become more proactive in shielding drought.

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Is The Wildfire Season Over? Rain, Snow Headed To California Bring Hope After Brutal Year

/in , /by /The Sacramento Bee by Ryan Sabalow

High winds Monday prompted warnings of more wildfires in parts of the north state, and a small grass fire threatened homes near Roseville.

But the prospect of rain and snow in the immediate forecast means the California wildfire season is likely nearing its end.

Southern California has already been soaked, and the north state is set to have more than a foot of snow just in time for the Thanksgiving travel rush. Despite one of the driest starts to the rainy season in years, the heavy soaking expected this week will likely mark the unofficial end to the fire season, experts said.

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Aging Oroville Dam Spillway Gates Draw Concern

/in , /by /Enterprise-Record (Chico, Calif.)by Robin Epley

Despite increased maintenance of Oroville Dam since the spillway fell apart in February 2017, members of the community-led Oroville Dam Ad Hoc Group have expressed concern about the age and wear of mechanics within the spillway’s main gates, citing similar failures on dams of the same era.

The Department of Water Resources convened a meeting Nov. 13 of the Oroville Dam Ad Hoc Group — an organization comprised of local elected officials and stakeholders appointed by state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Tehama) and Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) — as part of the Oroville Dam Safety Comprehensive Needs Assessment that was initiated by the DWR after the spillway crumbled.

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‘Bomb Cyclone’ Winter Storm Will Hit U.S. As Thanksgiving Nears, Forecasters Warn

/in , /by /NPR by Bill Chappell

Hurricane-force winds, blizzard conditions, heavy snowfall — and a “bomb cyclone” on the West Coast: Those are the dire predictions of weather forecasters, who are warning Thanksgiving travelers to be cautious and prepare for delays as two powerful back-to-back storms hit the western and central U.S. this week.

The National Weather Service’s U.S. forecast map is draped in alarming shades of pink, purple and red, reflecting winter storm warnings that are in effect from California to Michigan.

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Powerful Storm Will Bring Snow, Rain And Strong Winds From West to Central And Eastern U.S. Into This Weekend

/in , /by /The Weather Channel

Snow, rain and strong winds will make travel conditions difficult in parts of the West this week from an powerful storm that will slowly spread toward the central and eastern United States into this weekend.

The intensifying storm is located in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and will move into Oregon and Northern California on Tuesday. This storm will undergo bombogenesis before it moves inland. This means it will be a bomb cyclone since its pressure will drop at least 24 millibars within 24 hours, making it an intense storm when it strikes.

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