Posts

‘Climate Whiplash’ is the New Normal for California, Experts Say

Summer is approaching in California, and warmer temperatures have been melting the massive snowpack dumped on the state over the winter. Several swimmers and kayakers drowned this spring as rivers flooded and raged. The National Park Service took the rare step of closing much of Yosemite National Park’s scenic valley for several days to protect hikers and campers from floods. In April, California snowpack was at 237% of the average.

Soggy California Winter Set to Charge Up State’s Hydropower Sector

California’s unusually stormy winter is promising good news for the state’s struggling hydropower industry.

After three years of extreme drought, winter weather has driven up the most populous U.S. state’s snow levels to 235% of normal, according to the latest figures from the California Department of Water Resources. That’s likely to fill up hydro reservoirs during the spring melt, which could lead to more of the cheap renewable energy source and less dependence on fossil fuels, public agencies and utilities said.

After Wildfires, Scorched Trees Could Disrupt Water Supplies

In a California forest torched by wildfire last summer, researcher Anne Nolin examines a handful of the season’s remaining snow, now darkened by black specks from the burned trees above.

Spring heat waves had already melted much of the year’s limited snowfall across California and parts of the West when Nolin visited in early April. But she and her colleague are studying another factor that might’ve made the snow vanish faster in the central Sierra Nevada — the scorched trees, which no longer provide much shade and are shedding flecks of carbon.