Tag Archive for: Climate Change

50 Years From Now, Many Densely Populated Parts of the World Could be Too Hot for Humans

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

Unless steps are taken to check global warming, up to 3 billion people will find themselves in areas too warm for human comfort, a new study finds.

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Latest Survey of California Snow Pack Measures Below Normal

/in , , /by /AP

The last seasonal survey of snow in the Sierra Nevada confirms that California had a dry winter that will leave much-needed runoff levels below normal, authorities said Thursday.

The snow was only 1 ½ inches deep at the traditional manual measuring site at Phillips Station in the range east of Sacramento, and the water contained in it was equivalent to just a half-inch, which is 3 percent of the May average for the location, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

Sierra snow melt typically provides about 30% of the state’s water supply.

More broadly, 130 electronic snow sensors scattered throughout the Sierras indicated that California’s snow pack water equivalent is 37 percent of the May average.

Readings for April also were well below average.

“March and April storms brought needed snow to the Sierras, with the snow pack reaching its peak on April 9, however those gains were not nearly enough to offset a very dry January and February” and the last two weeks of higher temperatures have rapidly reduced the snow pack, said Sean de Guzman, chief of the department’s Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecast Section.

The snow measurements help in predicting runoff into reservoirs that will help meet California’s water demand in the summer and fall, the water agency said.

At the moment, reservoirs are in good shape, with the six largest close to or even above their historical averages. Lake Shasta, California’s largest surface reservoir, is currently more than 80% full, authorities said.

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‘Borrowing From the Future’: What an Emerging Megadrought Means for the Southwest

/in , , /by /Cronkite News (Arizona PBS, Phoenix)by Madison Staten

It’s the early 1990s, and Park Williams stands in the middle of Folsom Lake, at the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills in Northern California. He’s not walking on water; severe drought has exposed the lakebed.

“I remember being very impressed by the incredible variability of water in the West and how it’s very rare that we actually have just enough water,” said Williams, who went on to become a climate scientist at Columbia University. “It’s often the case there’s either too much or too little.”

Williams is the lead author on a report out this month in the journal Science detailing the extent of drought conditions in the American West.

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Back Off the Beach and the Rising Sea? No Way, California Cities Say

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Julie Cart

The view from high up in Del Mar’s 17th Street lifeguard station is a visit-California poster: a sweeping curve of sand, dramatic coastal bluffs, a welcoming sea. What scientists see, though, is somewhat more sobering: the Pacific Ocean as seething menace, a marine battering ram born of climate change that will inexorably claim more and more land and whatever sits upon it.

With rising seas now posing a greater threat to California’s economy than wildfires or severe earthquakes, state authorities are cautioning those who live along some of the Golden State’s famous beaches to do what they’re loath to do: retreat. Turn their backs to the sea and move homes, businesses, schools and critical infrastructure out of harm’s way.

The ocean could rise two to ten feet by 2100, imperiling $150 billion in property, according to state estimates, and erasing two-thirds of California’s beaches.

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Opinion: California Has a Chance for a Green Future After the Coronavirus. Don’t Waste it

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Chronicle Editorial Board

Bears are taking over Yosemite meadows, and coyotes are wandering city streets. Hilltop sunsets never looked more pure and bright. Around the world, smog-glazed skies are giving way to blue vistas and fresh air. A deadly pandemic is slowing human activity and boosting wildlife in startling ways.

With oil selling at near giveaway prices and airlines virtually grounded, there are fewer emissions pouring out. More widely, tailpipes from millions of cars and trucks are idled by stay-at-home orders. NASA space shots show far less pollution in familiar population and industrial centers across the country.

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As a Dying Salton Sea Spews Harmful Dust, Imperial Valley Water Wars Heat Up Again

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

The people of California’s Imperial Valley can be as unforgiving as the region’s harsh desert climate. It’s been 16 years since Bruce Kuhn cast the fateful vote to transfer tens of billions of gallons of Colorado River water from the valley’s sprawling farms to thirsty coastal cities, reshaping water politics in California and across the West.

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This Year is on Track to be Earth’s Warmest on Record, Beating 2016, NOAA says

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Andrew Freedman

There is a 75 percent chance 2020 will set a record for the warmest year since instrument records began in 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is projecting, beating out 2016 for the distinction.

This is somewhat unexpected, since there is no declared El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which tends to provide a natural boost to global temperatures that are already elevated due to the human-caused buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The NOAA projection, made late last week, is based on statistical modeling now that the first quarter of 2020 is off to a near-record warm start, coming in as the second-warmest January through March period since instrument records began in 1880.

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Changes in Snowmelt Threaten Farmers in Western U.S.

/in , , /by /Colorado State Universityby Mary Guiden

For decades, scientists have thought that changes in snowmelt due to climate change could negatively impact agriculture. Now, a new study reveals the risks to agriculture around the world from changes in snowmelt, finding that farmers in parts of the western United States who rely on snowmelt to help irrigate crops will be among the hardest hit in the world by climate change.

In a study published April 20 in Nature Climate Change, an interdisciplinary team of researchers analyzed monthly irrigation water demand with snowmelt runoff across global basins from 1985 to 2015. The goal was to determine where irrigated agriculture has depended on snowmelt runoff in the past and how that might change with a warming climate.

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Study: Snowpack Will Become a Less Reliable Predictor of Drought in Western U.S.

/in , , /by /Colorado Public Radioby Grace Hood

In the next 16-45 years, two-thirds of Western states may have to turn away from snowpack and find new tools to predict drought.

And by the late century, scientists estimate that area will grow to four-fifths of the western United States, according to a new paper in Nature Climate Change.

“When the temperature warms, the phase of the precipitation is likely to change from snow to rain. So less snowpack is something that’s pretty likely,” said lead author Ben Livneh, an assistant professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.

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Changes in Snowmelt Threaten Farmers in Western U.S.

/in , , /by /Science Dailyby Jeff Grabmeier

Farmers in parts of the western United States who rely on snowmelt to help irrigate their crops will be among the hardest hit in the world by climate change, a new study reveals.

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