Tag Archive for: Climate Change

Satellite Image Captures The Unusual Warmth Of San Diego’s Coastal Waters

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

Sea surface temperatures in Southern California — especially spots in San Diego like Solana Beach — have been unusually warm for weeks. The National Weather Service issued a computer graphic late Monday that shows where the hottest temperatures are being recorded (the areas in red.) “Water temperatures from lifeguards are 72 to 78F and this is shown in satellite imagery depicting much above normal readings (anomaly) in the California Bight,” the weather service said on Facebook.

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A Changing Climate At Mono Lake Could Mean More Dust Storms In The Eastern Sierra — Or Less Water For L.A.

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

When dust storms began rising off the dry bed of Owens Lake, authorities in the Eastern Sierra blamed Los Angeles’ thirst. The city had, after all, drained the lake in the 1920s to serve its faucets. Now, as dust kicks up from Mono Lake, authorities in the Eastern Sierra are once again blaming that water-craving metropolis about 350 miles to the south.

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Warned 30 Years Ago, Global Warming ‘Is In Our Living Room’

/in , /by /Associated Press by Seth Borenstein and Nicky Forster

On June 23, 1988, a sultry day in Washington, James Hansen told Congress and the world that global warming wasn’t approaching — it had already arrived. The testimony of the top NASA scientist, said Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley, was “the opening salvo of the age of climate change.” Thirty years later, it’s clear that Hansen and other doomsayers were right. But the change has been so sweeping that it is easy to lose sight of effects large and small — some obvious, others less conspicuous.

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Forecast For California: More Frequent Wild Weather Swings

/in , /by /Yale Climate Connections (New Haven, Conn.)by Bruce Lieberman

Many people are attracted to large parts of California for their reliably pleasant Mediterranean climate. It can be a welcome break for visitors weary of Nor’easters and scorching summers. But in coming decades, California and the rest of the West Coast could see increasingly wild swings in weather – a consequence of continued climate change. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in Nature Climate Change by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, UC-Irvine, and The Nature Conservancy. T

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Wrap-up Of California’s Dry/Warm Winter; “May Gray” Along The Coast And Persistent Mountain Showers Continue

/in , /by /The California Weather Blogby Daniel Swain

Most of California was on track for one of its driest winters on record as recently as February as a result of persistent (one might even call it resilient) high pressure ridging along the West Coast during the first half of winter. Recall that December 2017 featured the largest wildfire in modern California history, following on the heels of the most destructive and deadly wildfire event in the state’s history just months earlier in October. Through late February, Sierra Nevada snowpack was tracking near its lowest level in recorded history–on par with the near-total snow drought of 2014-2015.

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Earth Just Had Its 400th Straight Warmer-Than-Average Month Thanks To Global Warming

/in , /by /USA Today (McLean, Va.)by Doyle Rice

It was December 1984, and President Reagan had just been elected to his second term, Dynasty was the top show on TV and Madonna’s Like a Virgin topped the musical charts. It was also the last time the Earth had a cooler-than-average month. Last month marked the planet’s 400th consecutive month with above-average temperatures, federal scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. The cause for the streak? Unquestionably, it’s climate change, caused by humanity’s burning of fossil fuels.

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Climate Change Is Making Droughts Worse In The Western US

/in , /by /KPBSby Luke Runyan

A new study from NASA reinforces the idea that droughts are getting worse and could become more frequent in the Western U.S. The culprit is human-caused climate change. Droughts aren’t just about precipitation, said NASA scientist and the study’s co-author Benjamin Cook. They’re also about the timing of snowmelt and the wetness of soil, both of which are upended by a warming climate.

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GRACE-FO Will Help Monitor Droughts

/in , /by /Space Daily

You may not notice water in the ground under your feet, but it plays an important role in keeping you alive. Plants draw water from soil into their roots and use it to grow. If there’s not enough, the resulting drought may have impacts that spread across local water supplies, regional agriculture and even international food prices. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission was the first satellite system to directly measure global changes in the water stored underground in the world’s largest aquifers. GRACE Follow-On, scheduled to launch this month, will continue this important task.

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Dismal Western Snowpack Is A Climate “Warning Sign”

/in , /by /Scientific Americanby Chelsea Harvey

It’s only May, and it’s already shaping up to be a stressful summer for many western states. Low mountain snowpack is a big part of the problem. Both the mighty Rio Grande and the Colorado River are experiencing low flow in places, prompting concerns about everything from water shortages to the plight of suffocating fish. U.S. officials have already launched rescue missions for an endangered minnow in New Mexico, where parts of the Rio Grande have already started to run dry—an unusual event so early in the season.

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Shrinking Glaciers, Bigger Fires And Hotter Nights: How Climate Change Is Altering California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Tony Barboza and Joe Fox

California may be a leader in the fight against climate change, but the state is increasingly hard hit by symptoms of the unrelenting rise of greenhouse gases, a new state assessment finds. As global warming accelerates, California is getting hotter and drier. Trees and animals are moving to higher ground. Air conditioning is an increasing necessity. More winter precipitation is falling as rain and there’s less spring snowmelt to satisfy the water demands of farms and cities.

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