Six to See: Slideshow of This Week’s Top Climate News
Tracking wildfires, measuring hurricanes and how this wacky weather is effecting the U.S. … Read More
In Parched Southwest, Anxious Wait for Summer Rains
However, if the past two summer monsoon seasons are any guide to what’s ahead, meaningful drought relief may be wishful thinking. “Another dry monsoon could be devastating,” said Victor Murphy, a climate services program manager with the National Weather Service.… Read More
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
Boost to Colorado Snowpack May Lessen Wildfire Risk
As recently as late March it appeared that most of the West, including Colorado, was headed for a long, and tinderbox-dry spring and summer, with the effects of a long-running drought becoming ever more apparent in the form of dwindling water supplies and destructive wildfires. Many officials feared a repeat of last year’s disastrous wildfire seaso… Read More
Drought and Floods in NOAA’s ‘Mixed Bag’ Spring Outlook
The West and South will continue to face more drought this spring, while the Midwest is likely to see heavy rains and some serious flooding as the northern snowpack melts, according to a seasonal forecast released by the U.S. government on Thursday. The Seasonal Outlook, a product of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration… Read More
Heavy Rains, Snow Bring First Hint of Good Drought News
There was a net decline in all categories of drought across the lower 48 states during the week ending on Feb. 26. Most of the drought relief was confined to the Southeast and Southern Plains. In the Southeast, the total area in moderate drought or worse plummeted from 43.76 percent down to 27.26 percent in just one week.… Read More
Time Is Running Out to Avert a Third Summer of Drought
Meanwhile, the economic toll of the worst drought to strike the U.S. since at least the 1950s is climbing, and it “will probably end up being a top-five disaster event” among the government’s ranking of all weather disasters over the past three decades, said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist in the Agriculture Department’s Office of the Chief Economist,… Read More
Southwest Faces Looming Threats From Climate Change
The American Southwest, which is already the hottest and driest region of the nation, is likely to become even hotter and drier in the next few decades thanks in part to the ongoing effects of human-generated greenhouse gases. That’s the verdict of the draft National Climate Assessment report, the product of a federal advisory committee charged … Read More
