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Record Low Lake Powell and Bad 2021 Drought Forecast Sets Stage For Water Cuts

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Jason Blevins

The dry 2020 and the lack of snow this season has water managers in seven states preparing for the first time for cutbacks outlined in drought contingency plans drafted two years ago. A sobering forecast released this week by the Bureau of Reclamation shows the federally owned Lake Mead and Lake Powell — the nation’s two largest reservoirs and critical storage for Colorado River water and its 40 million users — dipping near-record-low levels.

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Environmental Turnaround — 8 Issues That Will Pivot in California’s Favor Under Biden

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

As wildfires, heat waves, water scarcity and threats to wildlife intensify in the West, California’s effort to confront these environmental crises now has support in Washington, a stark change from the past four years.

Even as former President Donald Trump spent his final days in office on the sidelines, lamenting his election loss, his administration continued to roll back environmental conservation and gut climate regulations.

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Opinion: Water Partnerships Between Cities and Farms Would Help Prepare for a Changing Climate

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alvar Escriva-Bou

San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities are facing different but equally daunting water challenges. For Valley farmers, the requirement to achieve groundwater sustainability in coming years has heightened interest in expanding water supplies to reduce the need to fallow irrigated farmland. For Southern California, falling demands since the early 2000s have reduced water stress during normal and wet years, but a warming climate makes future droughts a major concern.

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Gov. Newsom’s Draft Budget Funds Sustainable Ag

/in , /by /Capital Pressby Sierra Dawn McClain

Gov. Gavin Newsom has released his proposed state budget, which includes provisions for sustainable agriculture programs in California.

The proposed budget directs money to the state’s Climate Smart Agriculture programs, including the Healthy Soils Program and SWEEP, the State Water Efficiency Program.

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Hot Again: 2020 Sets Yet Another Global Temperature Record

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Seth Borenstein

Earth’s rising fever hit or neared record hot temperature levels in 2020, global weather groups reported Thursday.

While NASA and a couple of other measurement groups said 2020 passed or essentially tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, more agencies, including the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, said last year came in a close second or third. The differences in rankings mostly turned on how scientists accounted for data gaps in the Arctic, which is warming faster than the rest of the globe.

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Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, AES Pursue Nation’s First Solar-Powered Pumped Hydro Project

/in , , /by /Utility Diveby Robert Walton

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and AES Corp. have executed and filed a power purchase agreement with Hawaii regulators to develop a solar-powered pumped hydro storage project the utility says will bring its total resource mix above 80% renewables. The West Kauai Energy Project could come online in 2024.

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2020 Ties 2016 as Hottest Year on Record, Even Without Warming Boost from El Niño

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Tony Barboza

Global warming pushed temperatures into record territory in 2020, in effect tying 2016 as the hottest year on record, according to data released Thursday by U.S. science agencies.

Last year’s average global surface temperature was 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the late 19th century average, according to NASA. It was the fifth consecutive year of more than 2 degrees above that base line. Indeed, the seven hottest years in 140 years of record keeping are the last seven. In descending record order, they are 2020 and 2016, 2019, 2017, 2015, 2018 and 2014.

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A “Forever” Drought Takes Shape in the West

/in , , /by /Axiosby Jennifer A. Kingson

The Southwest U.S. is mired in an ever-worsening drought, one that has left deer starving in Hawaii, turned parts of the Rio Grande into a wading pool, and set a record in Colorado for the most days of “exceptional drought.”

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Sustainable Gardeners, Get Into Your Climate Zone

/in , , /by /Water News Network

People around the world know San Diego for its beautiful, sunny, and mild weather. San Diego residents know our daily weather has more variety than visitors might imagine.

Climate is defined as the average weather conditions in an area over a long period, generally 30 years or more. German climate scientist Wladimir Koppen first divided the world’s climate into six regions in the early 1900s.

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Climate Crisis: Record Ocean Heat in 2020 Supercharged Extreme Weather

/in , , /by /The Guardianby Damian Carrington

The world’s oceans reached their hottest level in recorded history in 2020, supercharging the extreme weather impacts of the climate emergency, scientists have reported.

More than 90% of the heat trapped by carbon emissions is absorbed by the oceans, making their warmth an undeniable signal of the accelerating crisis. The researchers found the five hottest years in the oceans had occurred since 2015, and that the rate of heating since 1986 was eight times higher than that from 1960-85.

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