Climate scientists who have studied the Southwest largely agree that the vast region — which includes Southern California — has been in drought almost since the beginning of the 21st century. It’s a historic megadrought — meaning a drought of twenty years or more — with the driest soils in the West in at leastContinue reading “Storm vs. Drought: After weeks of flooding, how can CA still be in drought?”
Category Archives: climate
UCSB Scientists See End to “Normal” Climate
From the Independent in Santa Barbara, a story I pulled together on two young scientists exploring the data underlying the megadrought in which SoCal finds itself today: By Kit StolzMon Sep 19, 2022 | 4:49pm In August, Governor Gavin Newsom and officials from the Department of Water Resources released a new Water Supply Strategy, saying that becauseContinue reading “UCSB Scientists See End to “Normal” Climate”
the new solar system
Ventura County heats faster than Lower 48
by Kit Stolz [published in the Ventura County Reporter April 14, 2022] Ventura County is warming faster than any other county in the continental United States, according to data compiled by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (1). The county has warmed 4.75 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, which is about a half a degree warmer than eitherContinue reading “Ventura County heats faster than Lower 48”
Antidote to Despair: “Occupy the Y” in Ojai
How the Desert Oracle, despite a crusty attitude, believes that action to save the earth can heal the individual.
Into the Red: Ventura County’s new climate
Today the Ventura County Reporter ran my story on a study looking at climate change in this area in the next twenty years. I hope to write a full story on climate action and the underlying question: how much is the county contributing to warming, and how much are we Ventura county residents doing toContinue reading “Into the Red: Ventura County’s new climate”
Flee or stay and defend? Rethinking evacuation from wildfire
News from around the Ojai Valley Thomas Fire dilemma: Stay or go? Residents, fire officials rethink evacuations Published: Friday, 22 March 2019 08:48 Photo provided by CAPS Media Firefighters try to save a house during the Thomas Fire. Kit Stolz, special to the Ojai Valley News On the night of Dec. 4, 2017, fueledContinue reading “Flee or stay and defend? Rethinking evacuation from wildfire”
“a very strange argument” for global warming
From David Wallace-Wells’ just published The Uninhabitable Earth: “Over the last few years, as the planet’s own environmental rhythms have seemed to grow more fatalistic, skeptics have found themselves arguing not that climate change isn’t happening, since extreme weather has made that undeniable, but that its causes are unclear — suggesting that the changes weContinue reading ““a very strange argument” for global warming”
“a permanent loss of normal”: CA climate today
A couple of years ago I worked hard on a story about a hugely important study from Daniel Swain et al on the all-too-likely re-occurence of the Great California Flood. For personal reasons nothing came of my story, but eventually the news did break in a big (Los Angeles Times) and accessible (Science Friday) sortContinue reading ““a permanent loss of normal”: CA climate today”
Sisyphus and climate activism: the surprising truth
In December, the scientist who — probably more than any other individual — brought ocean acidification to the attention of the world, Ken Caldeira, gave a named lecture to the huge science conference known as the AGU (officially, the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union). He spoke on the legacy of Carl Sagan, andContinue reading “Sisyphus and climate activism: the surprising truth”
Kit Stolz 