The biggest blizzards are over. But as state water officials head into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday for the annual April 1 snowpack reading — the most important of the year for planning summer water supplies — California still has a huge amount of snow covering its highest mountain peaks, an avalanche that has buried the state’s […]
After millions of dollars of flood damage and mass evacuations this year, California is grappling with how to update its aging flood infrastructure. Some say a natural approach might be part of the answer. All the water that poured down spillways at the Oroville Dam in northern California did a lot of damage to the […]
The Coachella Valley’s largest water agencies will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to settle the question of whether the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has a federally established right to groundwater beneath the tribe’s reservation. The Coachella Valley Water District and the Desert Water Agency announced Wednesday that they plan to submit their […]
After the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced a 65% initial allocation for those growing operations south of the Delta in the Central Valley of California, Western Growers’ President and CEO Tom Nassif declared the allocation “defies logic.” Particularly since the announcement follows another notice that other parts of the Central Valley would receive100% initial allocations. The […]
That was one hairy drought, not so long ago. Could it be pinned on our changing climate, or was it another example of the climate’s usual twists and turns, its natural variability? I spoke recently with Richard Seager (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University). Seager is lead author of a paper, “Causes of the 2011-14 California […]
Surveyors will crunch across the deepest mountain snowdrifts California has seen in years on Thursday to take the first snow measurement of the spring, a time when the snow begins to melt and flow downhill. The snowpack stretches along 400 miles of the Sierra Nevada, creating an icy reservoir that provides roughly one-third of irrigation […]
What Drought? Sierra Nevada Snowpack At 164 Percent Of Normal
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Mercury Newsby Paul RogersThe biggest blizzards are over. But as state water officials head into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday for the annual April 1 snowpack reading — the most important of the year for planning summer water supplies — California still has a huge amount of snow covering its highest mountain peaks, an avalanche that has buried the state’s […]
Where Levees Fail In California, Nature Can Step In To Nurture Rivers
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /NPRby Lauren SommerAfter millions of dollars of flood damage and mass evacuations this year, California is grappling with how to update its aging flood infrastructure. Some say a natural approach might be part of the answer. All the water that poured down spillways at the Oroville Dam in northern California did a lot of damage to the […]
Desert Water Agencies Will Appeal To Supreme Court In Tribe’s Landmark Groundwater Case
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Ian JamesThe Coachella Valley’s largest water agencies will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to settle the question of whether the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has a federally established right to groundwater beneath the tribe’s reservation. The Coachella Valley Water District and the Desert Water Agency announced Wednesday that they plan to submit their […]
Water Allocations in California Deemed Unfair
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Growing Produce (Willoughby, Ohio)by Carol MillerAfter the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced a 65% initial allocation for those growing operations south of the Delta in the Central Valley of California, Western Growers’ President and CEO Tom Nassif declared the allocation “defies logic.” Particularly since the announcement follows another notice that other parts of the Central Valley would receive100% initial allocations. The […]
OPINION: Where Did That Drought Come From?
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Union (Grass Valley)by Alan StahlerThat was one hairy drought, not so long ago. Could it be pinned on our changing climate, or was it another example of the climate’s usual twists and turns, its natural variability? I spoke recently with Richard Seager (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University). Seager is lead author of a paper, “Causes of the 2011-14 California […]
California Sees Heaviest Mountain Snowpack In Years
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /AP Newsby Scott SmithSurveyors will crunch across the deepest mountain snowdrifts California has seen in years on Thursday to take the first snow measurement of the spring, a time when the snow begins to melt and flow downhill. The snowpack stretches along 400 miles of the Sierra Nevada, creating an icy reservoir that provides roughly one-third of irrigation […]