Eric Holthaus, a journalist/meteorologist for Slate, fills us in on the good news of an atmospheric river hitting California this week. This week’s storm will usher in an atmospheric river event, also known as the “pineapple express,” peaking late Wednesday and Thursday. The National Weather Service office in the Bay Area has predicted “the strongest stormContinue reading “Atmospheric River to hit Bay Area, maybe SoCal”
Category Archives: climate
Climate study surprise: warming to bring more rain to CA
A major study published today, based on 160 climate models compiled by researchers at NOAA, including a leading voice in climate modeling, Martin Hoerling, and Richard Seager, both of whom who have spent years projecting the impact of climate change on the West, concludes that California's epic three-year drought was not — repeat not — caused byContinue reading “Climate study surprise: warming to bring more rain to CA”
CA’s drought worse in 1200 years — heat blamed
A lovely warm wet but mild Pacific storm has passed, leaving us soothed psychologically here in SoCal. The storm has done little to relieve our parching: millions of gallons flowed into the state's Oroville resevoir, but it only added up to about 1% capacity. Today comes this news, from a pair of paleoclimatologists: Griffin andContinue reading “CA’s drought worse in 1200 years — heat blamed”
Maybe this will motivate people on climate change
From Tom Toles of course: No, Toles is not making up the news, though his timeline/headline is a bit off. Chocolate really will become more difficult to grow in some areas where it's taken for granted now, according to a study reported by Climatewire/Scientific American: Climate change could melt chocolate production.
The California drought: Will it rain this winter in SoCal?
It's a big question. Talk to anyone who works on the land in Southern California and you'll hear discussion of El Niño, rain, winter, drought, scientists who can't agree– and so on.
I set out to get to the bottom of it last month for the Ventura County Reporter, and (dare I say) succeeded as well as could be reasonably hoped. Not that the comments on the piece reflected that: any mention of cllimate change brings out the cranks, I guess. from the chemtrail people to the climate change deniers.
But the real news is that in the short-term, the consensus looks decent. We will have rain this winter, scientists agree.
What's troubling for SoCal is the long-term prediction — increased dryness. Yikes.
Here's the start: I'll put the kicker below the fold.
"The last 12 months (from September 2013 to September 2014) have been hotter than any other 12 months in the 113 years that reliable temperature records have been kept in California, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
The last three “water years” have also been the driest such period in the state’s history, NOAA says. The term U.S. geological Survey “water year” in reports that deal with surface-water supply is defined as the 12 month period for any given year through September 30 of the following year. As a result the entire state is in drought, and Ventura County — like all of the central coast of the state — is in category 5, or “exceptional drought,” the worst of all possibilities.
[here's an image drawn from data collected by the pair of satellites known as GRACE, which shows how California is drying out as the level of available water below ground sinks]
NASA vs. NOAA: battle of the winter forecast charts
The headline exaggerates, of course, but doesn't in fact mislead. Here's a graph of a NASA climate model, depicting a forecast of precipitation in the U.S. for the next winter. Colors tell the story. In truth, it's a little hard to decode the anomalies chart, but this turns out to be just one of eightContinue reading “NASA vs. NOAA: battle of the winter forecast charts”
El Niño 2014 October forecast: Glass little over half full
NOAA released its October outlook for our winter, based on ocean temperatures, and continues to find a 60-65% chance of the appearance of the boychick. Here's my fave set of graphs today, from another site, and here's my fave single graph: These are tempeartures taken across a section of the equatorial Pacific, the vast belt acrossContinue reading “El Niño 2014 October forecast: Glass little over half full”
Huge climate march in NYC: “There is no Planet B.”
From the NYTimes: A Clarion Call for Action USAToday calls it the largest climate march ever. MSNBC said hundreds of thousands in NYC. To be followed by a mass demonstration at Wall Street tomorrow — now that should be interesting. Flood Wall Street. Bringing the experience so many people around the globe have lived throughContinue reading “Huge climate march in NYC: “There is no Planet B.””
Drought hits Central America: as predicted?
Four years ago an eminent climate researcher named Michael Oppenheimer at Princeton published a study predicting that climate change would increase the chance of a devastating drought hitting Mexico. He warned that it could drive farmers from their fields and send them across the border looking for work. a new study published in the prestigiousContinue reading “Drought hits Central America: as predicted?”
Neil Young: Meet Stephen Harper (of Canada)
Early this year Neil Young toured Canada as part of anti tar-sands effort, allying himself with the First Nations groups who accuse Canada of ruining their ancestral lands. This prompted an angry response from Stephen Harper, the climate change denying and oil promoting Prime Minister. And a cute cartoon… What rock star action in theContinue reading “Neil Young: Meet Stephen Harper (of Canada)”
Kit Stolz 