It was a wet and stormy year in the Coachella Valley and there may — or may not — be more on the way as the National Weather Service’s rainfall year began anew on Tuesday, a forecaster said.
California is enjoying an increase in average water reserves due to increases in snowfall and precipitation, according to the Department of Water Resources.
Statewide, the reservoir is at 128 percent of average, which is about 29.7 million acre-feet. Some of the biggest increases include Lake Oroville, which is currently at 102 percent of its average, compared to 62 percent this time last year; Shasta Lake is at 126 percent (88 percent in 2018) and San Luis Reservoir is at 132 percent (117 percent last year).
During this past winter, FOX40 met people who moved up the mountains for the snow — and then got sick of it. Many homes were completely buried in snow and the region saw heavy downpours of rain that tested storm drains and levees.
But from a Water Resources perspective, it was “a good water year,” according to spokesman Chris Orrock.
Orrock said California had above-average precipitation, with around 30 atmospheric rivers during the 2018-2019 water year, which ends on the last day of September.
With bipartisan support, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week advanced a comprehensive energy storage package, reported as an amendment to the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act.
Introduced by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the BEST Act would require the federal government to support energy storage research and demonstration projects. Along with the attached bills, it would open a standardized path for utilities to recover storage costs in federal rate proceedings.
The image of huge chunks of ice breaking away from glaciers and ice sheets, then floating out to sea in Earth’s most remote places, may be the most iconic symbol of a warming planet. And while most people will never see these familiar phenomena up close, what’s happening within some of the iciest settings still affects people and regions thousands of miles away.
Ecologist Heidi Steltzer, a Fort Lewis College professor and member of the Department of Energy’s Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA) project led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, studies how reduced snowpack and earlier snowmelt caused by climate change impact water supply in high-mountain areas..
After a lackluster amount of rainfall throughout the San Joaquin Valley in 2018, the recent end to the 2019 precipitation year was a welcome sight for community members wary of drought thanks to plenty of storms that brought above-average numbers.
This past precipitation year, which began Sept. 1, 2018 and ended Aug. 31, 2019, saw 45.65 inches of rainfall — nearly 10 inches more than the historical average for the area or about 125 percent of average for the date.
Since last November, when the Camp Fire almost completely destroyed the town of Paradise, the cancer-causing chemical benzene has tainted the town’s water, leaving it undrinkable. Now an independent team of scientists will begin testing for the carcinogen and other pollutants inside the houses that the fire left standing.
“The main goal is to really understand what’s going on, basically, and to address any issues that come up,” environmental health investigator Dr. Gina Solomon told residents at a recent Paradise Irrigation District meeting.
Following losses in court, a Fresno-based irrigation district has backed off its plans to do an environmental study on raising the height of Shasta Dam.
The Westlands Water District announced Monday that it has stopped working on the report because it could not meet the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s schedule for the project.
The bureau is trying to get non-federal partners to help pay half the cost of the $1.4 billion project to raise the height of the dam 18½ feet.
Scientists are searching for pockets of ecological resistance in the face of climate change, places that seem to be warming less quickly than others due to unique natural conditions.
The hope is that as the earth continues to get hotter, these “climate refugia” could serve as strongholds for plants and animals
For a decade, scientists have been studying this phenomenon in a steep mountain valley in the Sierra Nevada. Devils Postpile National Monument is known for its distinct geologic formations, where the crumbling columns of rock from an ancient lava bed resemble, well, a pile of posts.
We all walk on water. Not literally, but most Californians do walk over the water stored in the aquifers beneath our feet.
This unseen resource is groundwater, which provides 40% of our water supply in normal years, and up to 60% of our supply in times of drought.
With dry periods expected to increase in frequency and duration, groundwater is key to creating a more resilient water supply for drinking water, producing food, and sustaining our precious natural resources. Yet despite its importance, groundwater use in California has been largely unregulated.
