Posts

Climate Change Likely to Keep Hammering Colorado River’s Biggest Reservoirs, Model Shows

/in , , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colo.)by Luke Runyon

The Colorado River’s largest reservoirs are expected to keep struggling over the next five years due to climate change, according to the federal agency that oversees them.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s new modeling projections, which include this year’s record-breaking heat and dryness in some parts of the southwestern watershed, show an increasing likelihood of an official shortage declaration before 2026.

If dry conditions like the Colorado River Basin has seen since 2000 persist, the agency’s model shows an almost 80% chance of seeing an official shortage declaration by 2025. The chance of seeing the reservoir drop to a critically low level is about 20% in that same time period.

Full Story

In a Dry State, Farmers Use Oil Wastewater to Irrigate Their Fields, but is it Safe?

/in , , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Abby Weiss

For decades, farmers in California’s Kern County have turned to wastewater from oil production to help irrigate their crops during extended dry spells. The wastewater provides an alternative to groundwater, which has become increasingly scarce as farmers have pumped more than they could replenish.

Full Story

Lakes Mead, Powell at Risk Again from Drought Despite Major Conservation Efforts

/in , , /by /Tucson.comby Tony Davis

For the second time in two years, federal officials are warning that Lake Mead could drop in five to six years to levels low enough to possibly warrant major Central Arizona Project water cutbacks to Tucson and Phoenix.

These warnings were ratcheted up significantly compared to forecasts made earlier this year. That’s due to the severely hot and dry weather that struck most of the West during the summer, including the hottest two months on record in Tucson and Phoenix in August and July, respectively.

Full Story

Northern Hemisphere had its Warmest Summer Ever, NOAA says

/in , , /by /CBS Newsby Peter Martinez

The Northern Hemisphere had its hottest summer on record in 2020, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. Scientists from NOAA also said that 2020 is likely to be one of the five warmest years on record, and that last month was the second-warmest August on record.

NOAA said the 10 warmest Augusts have all occurred since 1998 and the five warmest Augusts have occurred since 2015. North America had its warmest August on record, with a temperature departure from average of +2.74 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NOAA.

Full Story

Changing Patterns of Ocean Salt Levels Give Scientists Clues to Extreme Weather on Land

/in , , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Bob Berwyn

New mapping of salt concentrations in the world’s oceans confirms what physics and climate models have long suggested: Global warming is intensifying Earth’s water cycle, speeding up the rate at which water evaporates in one area and falls as rain or snow somewhere else.

Full Story

The Colorado River is Awash in Data Vital to its Management, but Making Sense of it All is a Challenge

/in , , /by /Western Water (Water Education Foundation)by Gary Pitzer

Practically every drop of water that flows through the meadows, canyons and plains of the Colorado River Basin has reams of science attached to it. Snowpack, streamflow and tree ring data all influence the crucial decisions that guide water management of the iconic Western river every day.

Full Story

Extraordinary Heat, Rare Summer Snow Brought Unprecedented West Coast Firestorms

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times by Rong-Gong Lin II and Joseph Serna

The West Coast had just experienced a record-shattering heat wave when news came last week of a rare late-summer snowstorm in Colorado. To those still sweltering in California, Oregon and Washington, it sounded like a dream come true. In fact, it was an omen of a greater disaster to come.

Full Story

Three Key Takeaways from FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee’s Keynote at REFF

/in , , /by /pv magazineby Eric Wesoff

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has had a busy year. Chairman Neil Chatterjee gave a keynote at last week’s virtual REFF Wall Street to sum up 2020’s regulatory challenges and victories.

Chatterjee believes in competitive markets and is happy to see renewable sources win on price on an equal playing field. He didn’t mention solar by name — but he is really enthusiastic about storage, hybrid generation, and the changing regulatory landscape around these new resources.

Full Story

Colorado, 5 Other States Promise Lawsuits if Feds Fast-Track Approval of Utah’s Lake Powell Pipeline Project

/in , , /by /9News and Colorado Sunby Jason Blevins

For more than 20 years, negotiations among the seven states that rely on the Colorado River have avoided lawsuits, even as drought and population growth threaten the river’s flows.

That may change as a promise to rush the environmental review of a diversion project between the Colorado River’s upper and lower basins has six states suggesting lawsuits challenging the project could topple years of agreements.

Full Story

Is Climate Change Worsening California Fires, or is it Poor Forest Management? Both, Experts Say

/in , /by /San Francisco ChronicleIs climate change worsening California fires, or is it poor forest management? Both, experts sayby J.D. Morris

Long before climate change severely parched California, priming it to burn at a record scale, federal foresters made an inventory of trees in the southern Sierra Nevada. The year was 1911, and the goal of the fledgling U.S. Forest Service was to document the amount of timber in the area. More than a century later, however, the historical data set proved invaluable to researchers with a far different purpose: assessing how much the forest, and the inherent threat of fires within it, had evolved.

Full Story