Tag Archive for: Climate Change

Q&A: La Niña May Bring More Atlantic Storms, Western Drought

/in , , /by /AP News by Seth Borenstein

La Niña — which often means a busier Atlantic hurricane season, a drier Southwest and perhaps a more fire-prone California — has popped up in the Pacific Ocean.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday that a La Niña, the cooler flip side of the better known El Niño, has formed. Meteorologists had been watching it brewing for months.

A natural cooling of certain parts of the equatorial Pacific, La Niña sets in motion a series of changes to the world’s weather that can last months, even years. This one so far is fairly weak and is projected to last through at least February but may not be the two-to-three-year type sometimes seen in the past, NOAA Climate Prediction Center Deputy Director Mike Halpert said.

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La Niña is Back. What Does That Mean for California’s Drought?

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

La Niña conditions were observed in the Pacific Ocean last month, and there is a 75% chance the weather pattern will persist through the winter, forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

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Climate Change May Bring Unexpected Benefits to San Francisco Bay-Delta

/in , , /by /Forbesby Linh Anh Cat

The San Francisco Bay-Delta is literally threatened from all sides: rising sea levels from the ocean, disruptions to sediment supply from upstream, and within the Bay-Delta itself, development and other land use changes have left only a tiny fraction (5%) of marshland untouched.

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Opinion: Wildfires and Soaring Temperatures — the Hellscape Scientists Warned Us About is Here

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby The Times Editorial Board

After an extended weekend of wildfires, part of an early fire season that has already seen a record 2 million acres burned and Death Valley-like temperatures smothering the San Fernando Valley, Californians would be right to wonder whether we are living in a hellscape. We are not, it’s safe to say. But we are living in the future that climate scientists have been trying to warn us about for years now.

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UN Report: Increased Warming Closing in on Agreed Upon Limit

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Seth Borenstein
The world is getting closer to passing a temperature limit set by global leaders five years ago and may exceed it in the next decade or so, according to a new United Nations report.

In the next five years, the world has nearly a 1-in-4 chance of experiencing a year that’s hot enough to put the global temperature at 2.7 degrees (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial times, according to a new science update released Wednesday by the U.N., World Meteorological Organization and other global science groups.

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Bill Will Strengthen and Expand Carlsbad Fish Hatchery Program

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

A bill passed by the state Legislature and headed to the governor’s desk for his signature will strengthen and expand a marine fish hatchery program in Carlsbad, the only one of its kind on the West Coast.

The new legislation by Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath will update the program and allow it to breed more of the native California species that have been depleted by commercial and recreational fishing over the years.

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How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared

/in , , /by /The Atlanticby Peter Fairley

On August 14, 2018, Joshua Novacheck, a 30-year-old research engineer for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was presenting the most important study of his nascent career. He couldn’t have known it yet, but things were about to go very wrong.

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As California Burns, the Winds Arrive and the Lights Go Out

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Marcio Jose Sanchez and Christopher Weber

New wildfires ravaged bone-dry California during a scorching Labor Day weekend that saw a dramatic airlift of more than 200 people trapped by flames and ended with the state’s largest utility turning off power to 172,000 customers to try to prevent its power lines and other equipment from sparking more fires.

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Its Electric Grid Under Strain, California Turns to Batteries

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Ivan Penn

Last month as a heat wave slammed California, state regulators sent an email to a group of energy executives pleading for help. “Please consider this an urgent inquiry on behalf of the state,” the message said.

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California Legislature’s End-of-Session Scramble Leaves Environment Bills on Cutting Room Floor

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

Monday at midnight marked the deadline for California lawmakers to pass bills out of the Legislature. But in a session replete with the COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice and wildfires, numerous bills were left to die on the cutting room floor.

Among them was the majority of the environmental agenda in what some legislators, environmentalists and public health advocates labeled a disappointment.

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