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Opinion: Climate Change and Water Supply

/in , /by /CalMatters (Sacramento, Calif.)by Dan Walters

California, as everyone knows, receives virtually all of its precipitation during a few fall and winter months and in 2019, some early rain and snow storms promised a bountiful water year.

This year, Mother Nature kept that promise in Southern California, where precipitation is running at or above the normal, but Northern California — far more important from a water supply standpoint — has been a different story.

The north has seen almost no precipitation since Christmas, the all-important Sierra snowpack is less than half of its average depth, and the region’s balmy, springlike weather shows no signs of ending.

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Cold Snap Sets Sub-Freezing Records in El Cajon, Ramona and Vista

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Debbie L. Sklar

A bone-chilling cold snap brought freezing temperatures across the San Diego area Wednesday, sending the mercury dipping as low as the 20s and high teens in part of the county.

A bone-chilling cold snap brought freezing temperatures across the San Diego area Wednesday, sending the mercury dipping as low as the 20s and high teens in part of the county.

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Across the U.S., States are Bracing for More Climate-Related Disasters

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alex Brown

State lawmakers across the country are calling for huge investments to mitigate the effects of wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, droughts and other natural disasters made more devastating and frequent by climate change.

Following the hottest decade on record, which saw record-breaking wildfires in the West, extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, a years-long drought in California, and severe flooding in the Midwest, legislators in many states say it’s long past time to treat such events as the new normal — and invest accordingly.

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Worst Climate Scenario Probably Won’t Happen, Scientists Say

/in , /by /E&E News by Chelsea Harvey

One of the most fundamental questions in climate research asks the following: What will the world look like when we reach a certain point of warming?

How will it change after 2 degrees? 4 degrees? Even warmer?

More than a decade ago, scientists designed a set of hypothetical scenarios to help them model the climate. Their goal was to answer these very questions.

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UCSD Scientists Will Ride Research Aircraft into Huge Storms to Study Atmospheric Rivers

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

UC San Diego will send airborne scientists into huge offshore storms to deepen their understanding of ”atmospheric rivers,” the plumes of moisture that can bring nourishing rains, and flooding, to the West Coast.

The second of up to 12 winter weather reconnaissance flights is scheduled to take off from Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento on Tuesday, carrying researchers from NOAA and the Air Force. UCSD will add its own researchers to the trips in about a week.

The university is partnering with the government and military on the project, which is being run out of the UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

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Thais Asked to Shower Less as Drought Worsens

/in , , /by /Reutersby Panarat Thepgumpanat and Patpicha Tanakasempipat

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday urged people to turn off taps and shower less to cope with a drought afflicting northern and central Thailand.

Last week, Bangkok’s water authority said the capital’s tap water was becoming saline as seawater pushed up the depleted Chao Phraya river, a source of much of central Thailand’s water.

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First California Snowpack Measurement of 2020 is Boosted by Recent Storms

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry

After a slow start to California’s wet winter season, a series of storms that hammered the state at the tail end of 2019 dumped enough snow on the Sierra Nevada to kick off the new year with a solid snowpack.

Surveyors with the California Department of Water Resources trudged through a snow-covered field Thursday at the department’s Phillips station — fresh powder crunching beneath their snowshoes —and plunged a hollow pole into the snowpack for the first monthly measurement that serves as an important marker for the state’s water supply.

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Sierra Nevada Snowpack Begins 2020 in Good Shape, a Hopeful Sign for California Water Outlook

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Paul Rogers

After a dry start to California’s winter rainy season, a series of big storms that began around Thanksgiving delivered enough snow for the Sierra Nevada to begin 2020 in relatively good shape.

As of Dec. 31, the statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack — a major source of California’s water supply — stood at 94% of its historical average.

That’s the highest total in four years, when it came in at 106% on Dec. 31, 2015.

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A Warning from Ancient Tree Rings: The Americas are Prone to Catastrophic, Simultaneous Droughts

/in , , /by /Science Magazineby Paul Voosen

For 10 years, central Chile has been gripped by unrelenting drought. With 30% less rainfall than normal, verdant landscapes have withered, reservoirs are low, and more than 100,000 farm animals have died. The dry spell has lasted so long that researchers are calling it a “megadrought,” rivaling dry stretches centuries ago. It’s not so different from the decadelong drought that California, some 8000 kilometers away, endured until last year.

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Washington Snowpack Low, Similar to 2015 Drought Year

/in , , /by /AP

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s snowpack is less than a year ago and officials say it’s similar to the start of 2015, the state’s last big drought.

The Capital Press reports the statewide snowpack is 47% of normal. It was 46% of normal at this time five years ago.

“It’s very reminiscent of 2015, but this year we are way behind on mountain precipitation,” said Scott Pattee, state water supply specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Mount Vernon, Washington. “It’s worrisome. It’s the third slowest start in snow accumulation statewide since the 1990s and we had one of the driest Novembers on record.”

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