Posts

‘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.

Full Story

Potent Storm Bringing Heavy Mountain Snow, Flood Risk to California

/in , , /by /AccuWeatherby  Brandon Buckingham

A winter-like storm system will continue to bring rain, snow and cooler air to California into midweek.

While the month of February featured nearly bone-dry conditions across the Golden State, a series of late-season storm events are helping to minimize concerns for the dry season ahead.

Full Story

Active Pattern to Bring Rain and Snow to the West in the Week Ahead

/in , , /by /The Weather Channelby Jonathan Belles

More rain and mountain snow will move through the West, including communities in worsening drought, in the early part of the week ahead. This wet pattern began when an area of low pressure moved into the California coast on Sunday. It brought more than an inch of rain to much of the Los Angeles area.

Full Story

‘March Miracle’ Continues as Several Storms Queue Up for California

/in , , /by /AccuWeatherby Alex Sosnowski

After an absence of major storms for much of the winter, the ‘March Miracle,’ in terms of wet weather, seems likely to continue next week in California.

The storm that brought drenching rain and yards of snow to the Sierra Nevada early this week was still lingering as of Wednesday night but will diminish over the next couple of days.

A lull in storms is forecast late this week to this weekend, but a new series of storms is destined to impact much of the West next week with more rain and mountain snow from Monday to Wednesday.

Full Story

California Mountains Blanketed in Snow After March Storms

/in , , /by /Associated Press (Sacramento Bee)by John Antczak

California mountains are blanketed in snow and much of the state has had plenty of rain in a remarkable March turnabout from the extremely dry first two months of the year.

The most recent statewide storm started during the weekend and, despite diminishing, snow snowfall and showers were still occurring here and there.

In the Sierra Nevada, Homewood Mountain Resort on the west shore of Lake Tahoe reported late Tuesday a storm total of 114 inches (289.5 centimeters) of snow at its summit and 74 inches (188 centimeters) at the base.

Full Story

California Storm Dumps Up to 70 Inches of Snow, Making Small Dent in Massive Snowpack Deficit

/in , /by /The Washington Postby Matthew Cappucci

The week started with extreme snow in the Sierra Nevada, where a powerful high altitude storm system brought more than 60 inches of snow to California’s highest peaks. Winds over 100 mph battered the Sierra Ridge as fee of snow piled high, sparking avalanche concerns and forcing the closure of Interstate 80. Visibility at time plummeted to near zero.

Full Story

‘Miracle March’: California’s Sierra Nevada Pummeled by Feet of Snow

/in , , /by /The Weather Channelby Linda Lam

Snow has finally diminished a bit after California’s Sierra Nevada picked up several feet of snow, part of a “Miracle March” weather pattern helping to replenish vital, water-providing snowpack after a record-dry February.

Heavy snow began in the Sierra last Saturday and continued through Monday night leading to major travel headaches.

Monday night, a section of Interstate 80 westbound near the California-Nevada state line was closed due to multiple spinouts.

Full Story

‘Miracle March’? Feet of Sierra Snow Beginning This Weekend is Just What California Needs

/in , , /by /The Weather Channelby Linda Lam

Much-needed snow will blanket California’s Sierra Nevada high country this weekend into next week, bringing hope of a “Miracle March” that could replenish vital, water-providing snowpack after a record-dry February.

A major change in the weather pattern is ahead for Northern California as unsettled and colder conditions will emerge. This change will be accompanied by low pressure that will track southward near the West Coast this weekend and will remain near California early next week before this system pushes eastward into the Great Basin.

Full Story

California’s Snowpack Shrivels, Raising Fears of Future Wildfires

/in , , /by /Discover Magazineby Tom Yulsman

What a difference a year makes.

As the comparison of satellite images above shows, last year at this time California’s Sierra Nevada range was buried in snow. And even as recently as January of this year, snowpack was looking pretty good.

But since then, the jet stream has ferried storms north of California, causing the snowpack to shrivel — from about 150 percent of average last February down to just a little more than 50 percent now.

Full Story

Trump Team Proposes Rollback of Desert Protections to Boost Geothermal Energy

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

In step with President Trump’s push for more energy development in California’s deserts, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday it wants to transform 22,000 acres of public land in the southern Owens Valley into one of the largest geothermal leasing sites in the state.

The agency has determined that the aquifer deep beneath the surface of the vintage Old West landscape of Rose Valley, about 120 miles north of Los Angeles, is a storehouse of enough volcanically heated water to spur $1 billion in investments and provide 117,000 homes with electricity.

Full Story