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A new University of California report forecasts kick-to-the-gut climate-change realities for California farmers, especially those who grow permanent crops in the Central Valley. In a nutshell, the report anticipates big trouble ahead for crops such as almonds, peaches, table grapes, corn and rice. Scorching summer heat and longer periods of sustained drought will reduce yields. Higher temperatures also will provide a perfect incubator for insects and diseases. Some longtime Valley staples won’t be grown here at all. Ag is nimble in adapting to challenges.

If we had known a year ago that this winter would be so dry, would we have conserved water more aggressively last summer? Would ski resorts have installed more snowmaking equipment? Would farmers buy different seeds to plant this spring? These are among the tantalizing questions raised by a team of government and university scientists, who believe they have developed a tool to predict mountain snowpack in the West up to eight months in advance – long before the first winter snowflake has fallen.

After months of relatively dry weather in California, this winter’s biggest storm to date is set to deliver rain at lower elevations and feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. That’s good news for the precipitation-starved state, but will this storm be enough to mitigate the growing number of areas facing severe drought? The National Weather Service reports that the storm will begin late tonight and impact the state through Saturday.

At this time of year, temperatures in the Arctic circle usually linger around the -22°F (-30°C) mark, with the region still cloaked in perpetual darkness. However, the region is experiencing one of the warmest Februarys on record, with temperatures for the area north of 80 degrees latitude currently averaging 17.6°F (-20°C)–more than 36°F (20°C) above normal, Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), told Reuters.