Climate change is making it a matter of time before a megaflood hits the state. The Santa Barbara police car blocked access to the bridge, lights flashing as the thundering, swollen brown river rampaged below. The water was running so high in this Southern California county that it gushed through the railings of the bridge, and poured out onto the road.
While this week’s atmospheric river drenched Southern California with record-breaking rainfall, some water managers were busy capturing some of that runoff to save for dry days ahead. Others were busy fending off an environmental disaster.
California is expected to receive more rainfall by Friday from an atmospheric river storm than what Lake Mead in Nevada—the largest reservoir in the U.S.—can hold, meteorologists have said, as the state continues to face the threat of flooding.
Drinking water in the United States is at risk, scientists have said, as nitrogen pollution seems to be increasing.
Evidence highlighting the effects of climate change – and its increasing impact on our societies – is indisputable. 2023 saw a flurry of extreme weather events across the world. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded 28 weather and climate disasters in the United States alone, topping the previous high of 22 events during 2020.
Sunday’s powerful storm brought a big boost to the Sierra snowpack. Here’s a look at some weekend totals and an update to the snowpack water content. On Monday morning, ski resorts in the Tahoe Basin and along the Sierra Crest were reporting two to four feet of snow since Saturday morning.
In the dry, desert air of Las Vegas, it seems strange to be talking about a plentiful source of water all around us. Southern Nevada is in the grip of one of the worst droughts it has experienced in recorded history, leading to water shortages and restrictions on use.
Beyond evacuations, mudslides, outages and road flooding, the atmospheric river that drenched Southern California over the last few days brought eye-popping rainfall totals to the region — with still more to come Tuesday.
Scott Minor is superintendent for the water system serving the area around Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, in southern Maine, a growing region where summer tourists flocking to the coast swell the demand for water. Minor’s water system had identified a safe, out-of-the-way spot for a well to supplement the water supply.
