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A long planned gas-fired power station in Carlsbad that squeaked through approval largely because it was the only source that could be up and running by the end of 2017 will not be complete by that date after all. David Knox, communications director with plant owner NRG Energy, confirmed construction has not begun and the powerhouse won’t be complete until the end of 2018, or later if there are further legal appeals. An inewsource examination of utility filings has also found the new plant will be much dirtier than its original design. A design change to make the plant run at peak times rather than constantly will cause greater greenhouse and other pollutant emissions, hour for hour.

At the end of June, Los Angeles had recorded its driest five-year period since record-keeping began almost 140 years ago. The announcement seemed like an ominous milestone, especially after an El Niño-fueled weather pattern that was supposed to drench the region had failed to materialize. But just six months later, L.A. has seen a major turnaround. Los Angeles is experiencing its wettest winter in years, with 14.33 inches of rain since October — more than 200% of average. That’s nearly as much rain as the city gets in a typical year.

As California mops up after the recent rainstorms, the state faces a decision. Is it time for state leaders to lift the emergency policies meant to encourage water conservation during the multi-year drought? That’s our Question of the Week for readers. If you haven’t had time to keep track of the rainfall statistics while trying to keep the roof on, here are the basics: Several storms this winter have brought various areas of California two to four times the average rainfall for this time of year.

California’s vital Sierra Nevada snowpack measured 197 percent of average on Tuesday in the aftermath of three weeks of storms — the highest level in more than a decade. Automated measuring stations showed 161 percent in the northern section, 195 percent in the central area and 240 percent in the south. Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the Department of Water Resources, said it’s too early to call the California drought over, but said the recent storms will do “quite a bit toward alleviating the drought impacts” in the hardest hit parts of the state

Researchers predict that global warming generally will make summers hotter and winters milder from Southern California to the northeastern United States to parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The impact will vary depending on different regions of the planet, according to a report published Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. While the U.S., Canada and northern Europe are expected to see modest increases in mild to hot days, people living in the tropics should brace for significantly more heat, said authors of the study, which appears in the journal Climatic Change.