Drought and Heat May Fuel Early Fire Season in West
Fire season may come early this year in the West, as it has more frequently in recent years, thanks to ongoing drought conditions and increasing temperatures. According to a new outlook issued by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, ID, major wildfires in California could begin as early as this month, nearly a month ahead of… Read More
Why Bark Beetles are Chewing Through U.S. Forests
The conifer forests of the North American west have been under a massive assault over the past decade by bark beetles: one species alone, the mountain pine beetle, has killed more than 70,000 square miles’ worth of trees, equivalent to the area of Washington State, and two recent studies have shed some light on how climate change is helping fuel… Read More
‘Atmospheric River’ Piles Up Massive Rain, Snow & Winds
The National Weather Service’s Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in Maryland has compiled the most impressive statistics from the storms that struck between Nov. 27 and Dec. 3, which rolled in from the Pacific Ocean and tapped a feed of moisture that stretched from the tropics to San Francisco.… Read More
How Safe Are America’s 2.5 Million Miles of Pipelines?
At 6:11 p.m. on September 6, 2010, San Bruno, California 911 received an urgent call. A gas station had just exploded and a fire with flames reaching 300 feet was raging through the neighborhood. The explosion was so large that residents suspected an airplane crash. But the real culprit was found underground: a ruptured pipeline spewing natural gas… Read More
Working Wonders Without Water Out West
In the long rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains, where dryland wheat farmers have eked out livings for more than a century, climate change is very much an issue of the present. The rain gauge is always in the back of the mind for Mike Nichols, a wheat farmer cultivating 20,0000 acres across two counties in south-central Washington state. It has to… Read More
Picturing the West Coast ‘Atmospheric River’ Event
Fortunately, the West has largely been dry -- too dry, in fact -- so the flooding danger is somewhat lower now than it might otherwise have been. Still, with 10-20 inches of rain possible through the weekend in northern and central California, as well as parts of Washington and Oregon, the National Weather Service has issued flood watches and warni… Read More
‘Atmospheric River’ Aims At West Coast; Warmup in Plains
The Pacific storms will play a major part in shifting the jet stream across the U.S., and setting up what is likely to be a remarkably warm start to December, particularly for the Plains and Midwest. Computer model projections show that these areas may see temperatures climb to as high as 20°F above average between Nov. 28 and Dec. 3.… Read More
As Sea Ice Declines, Winter Shifts in Northern Alaska
The consequences of the record loss of Arctic sea ice this past summer are becoming clear to the 4,000 or so residents of Barrow, Alaska, who have seen a much milder and snowier-than-average start to their typically long and bitterly cold winter season. As is typical for this time of year, much of Alaska has already been plunged into winter … Read More
