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Archive for February, 2016
Hot, Dry Weather Could Cut Into California’s Snowpack
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on February 5th, 2016
Climate Central: Hello, it's me.
Words made famous by Adele could just as easily apply to what's about to happen in California. An unwelcome call is coming from across the Pacific for a state still struggling with drought.
A ridge of high pressure is coming to the state, harkening back to the ridiculously resilient ridge of the past few years and butting into California's burgeoning love affair with El Niño. It could set back California's snowpack and break heat records.
A ridge of high pressure will deflect...
Clinton wants to move toward banning fossil fuel extraction on public land
Posted by Grist: Katie Herzog on February 5th, 2016
Grist: After the latest Democratic presidential debate on Thursday, Hillary Clinton told an activist with 350.org that she supports banning fossil fuel extraction on public lands. “It’s a done deal,” she said. And when asked a follow-up question, she continued, “That’s where the president is moving. No future extraction. I agree with that.” The activist, quite literally, cheered. That cheer might have been a tiny bit premature. Clinton’s quick comments hardly amount to a clear policy proposal. She said...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Clinton wants to move toward banning fossil fuel extraction on public landMountains in Central Appalachia Flatter Post-Mining
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 5th, 2016
Nature World: Mining has not only moved mountains; it has made them flatter.
That's according to a new study from Duke University, which looked at data from 40 years of mountaintop coal mining in Central Appalachia. The research concluded that those mountain areas are now 60 percent more flat than they were before the excavation work.
In the research, scientists looked at topographic data of southern West Virginia sites from before and after the mining. In part, they were examining how such mines can affect...
Early 2014 UK flooding made more likely by climate change
Posted by Ars Technica: None Given on February 5th, 2016
Ars Technica: In places like California, researchers have been working to understand how climate change is affecting droughts. But in the UK, it’s unusually wet weather making headlines of late. Southern England and Wales got soaked over the winter that ran into January 2014, leading to near-historic flooding. This led to a natural question: did climate change have a hand in it?
Climate is basically the statistics of weather, so the way we answer this is to use climate models to look for a change in those statistics....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Early 2014 UK flooding made more likely by climate changeSenate Democrats Block Energy Bill in Dispute Over Aid for Flint
Posted by New York Times: Coral Davenport on February 5th, 2016
New York Times: Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked action on a comprehensive energy bill that had drawn broad bipartisan support after lawmakers failed to agree on including a $600 million amendment to address the crisis over lead-tainted water in Flint, Mich.
Senators voted twice to end debate on the energy bill, first falling 10 votes short of the 60-vote threshold needed to bring the item to a conclusion, and then falling six votes short. Absent their Flint aid amendment, 38 Democrats, including one of the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Senate Democrats Block Energy Bill in Dispute Over Aid for FlintNew Record Low for January Arctic Sea Ice
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 5th, 2016
USA Today: The amount of Arctic sea ice set a record low for the month of January, the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced Thursday.
January 2016 was a remarkably warm month there, the data center said. Air temperatures were 13 degrees above average across most of the Arctic Ocean.
Just before New Year's, a slug of mild air pushed temperatures above freezing to within 200 miles of the North Pole, according to Weather Underground meteorologist Bob Henson.
This was due in part to a strong negative...
Has the Southwest Shifted to a ‘Drier Climate State’?
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on February 5th, 2016
Climate Central: The Southwest is already the most arid part of the U.S. Now new research indicates it's becoming even more dry as wet weather patterns, quite literally, dry up.
The change could herald a pattern shift and raises the specter of megadrought in the region.
Precipitation across the U.S. that can be attributed to these changes in weather patterns. The gray dots show areas where the results are statistically significant.
"We see a very intense trend in the Southwest,' Andreas Prein, a postdoctoral...
Climate change’s frost harms early plant reproduction, study finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 5th, 2016
PhysOrg: The findings appear in the journal Global Change Biology.
Climate change has many ecological effects, such as altering flowering phenology, or the blooming time of wildflowers, across the world. Altering blooming time often affects plant reproduction and survival, but the mechanisms behind these changes are not well understood.
The researchers used two large-scale field experiments to assess how altering the phenology of the western spring beauty affects plant-pollinator interactions and plant...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change’s frost harms early plant reproduction, study findsStudies show impact of forest management and deforestation on climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 5th, 2016
PhysOrg: Two groups of researchers, one studying forests in Europe the other forests around the world, have found that forest management may not be the answer to slowing global warming that some had hoped, and that forests have other climate impacts that are not being taken into consideration when making global climate predictions. Both groups have published papers describing their studies and findings in the journal Science.
In the first study, a team made up of French researchers obtained historical...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Studies show impact of forest management and deforestation on climateZimbabwe declares ’state of disaster’ over drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 4th, 2016
Agence France-Presse: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Friday declared a "state of disaster" in many rural areas hit by a severe drought, with 26 percent of the population facing food shortages. A regional drought worsened by the El Nino weather phenomenon has affected South Africa and Zambia as well as Zimbabwe, leaving tens of thousands of cattle dead, dams depleted and crops written off. Formerly known as the breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe has suffered perennial shortages in recent years and has resorted to...