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Mired Again in Drought, Experts Say California Is Better Prepared to Survive

Toxic algae blooms. Exposed, barren shorelines. Racing to prevent salmon die-offs. Sinking farmland. Dry wells. Unseasonable wildfires.

Drought has returned to California and the American West.

Following the fourth-driest winter on record and just a few years after declaring victory over the last drought, California is once again prepping for a summer of water insecurity. Conditions already mirror the last drought, but experts and water managers contend the state is better equipped this time around.

The Sun May Offer Key to Predicting El Niño, Groundbreaking Study Finds

When it comes to long-term hurricane forecasts, tornado predictions in the Plains or prospects for winter rain in California, you’ll often hear meteorologists refer to El Niño or La Niña. They’re phases in a cycle that starts in the tropics, spreading an influence across the globe and shaping weather both close to home and on different continents.

Now there’s emerging research to suggest that cosmic rays, or positively charged, high-energy particles from space, might be the mechanism that flips the switch between phases. Cosmic rays come from outside our solar system, but the number and intensity that reach Earth hinge on the magnetic field of the sun.

Marin County Water District to Consider More Drought Restrictions This Week

After recently approving the Bay Area’s first widespread restrictions on water customers amid worsening drought conditions, officials with the Marin Municipal Water District will vote Tuesday on imposing more.

 

California Senate Proposes to Spend $3.4 Billion on Drought

Mired in yet another drought that threatens drinking water, endangered species of fish and the state’s massive agriculture industry, Democrats in the California Senate on Thursday detailed a $3.4 billion proposal designed to gird the state for a new crisis on the heels of a deadly and disruptive pandemic.

The proposal would equal all of the state’s combined spending during the previous drought, which lasted from 2012 to 2016, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. That drought occurred after the Great Recession, when California routinely battled multibillion-dollar budget deficits and struggled to pay for state services.

Drought-Depleted Rivers Force Salmon Hatcheries to Truck Fish to the Pacific

Millions of young salmon raised at fish hatcheries in the Central Valley will be trucked to San Francisco Bay and other coastal sites for release, because the rivers they’d normally travel to get to the ocean are drying up, state and federal officials said Wednesday.

3 More Bay Area Water Districts Take Drastic Steps With Drought Looming

Three more big Bay Area water agencies are calling on residents to conserve water as drought looms in California following two consecutive extraordinarily dry winters.

Board members with both the East Bay Municipal Utility District and Sonoma Water approved proclamations Tuesday to declare drought emergencies.

Federal Dollars Available for Farmers, Ranchers Facing Drought in California

Federal dollars are on the table to help farmers and ranchers during the drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture declared a drought disaster in 50 California counties last month. Grants are now available to help with costs associated with the dry conditions.

Facing Drought, Southern California Has More Water Than Ever

The cracked and desiccated shoreline of Lake Mendocino made a telling backdrop for California Governor Gavin Newsom’s message at a news conference last week: Drought conditions are here, and climate change makes the situation graver.  But water supplies vary across regions, which is why the governor limited a drought emergency declaration to just two northern counties. In fact, highly urbanized Southern California has a record 3.2 million acre-feet of water in reserve, enough to quench the population’s needs this year and into the next.

Western U.S. May Be Entering its Most Severe Drought in Modern History

Extreme drought across the Western U.S. has become as reliable as a summer afternoon thunderstorm in Florida. And news headlines about drought in the West can seem a bit like a broken record, with some scientists saying the region is on the precipice of permanent drought. That’s because in 2000, the Western U.S. entered the beginning of what scientists call a megadrought — the second worst in 1,200 years — triggered by a combination of a natural dry cycle and human-caused climate change.

Drought Hitting Home in California, Arizona

As drought deepens in the West and the water used by farms and people alike dwindles, farmers in Arizona and California are bracing for cutbacks in the two major federal systems that supply irrigation and drinking water to millions of people.

Water storage is shrinking with no snowpack to replenish reservoirs managed by the Bureau of Reclamation in California and Arizona. Shasta Lake in northern California is about half full while lakes Mead and Powell, the two giant reservoirs designed to contain more than 50-million-acre feet of water behind Hoover and Glen Canyon dams, respectively, are precariously low with under 20-million-acre feet of total storage combined.