In warming ocean, record number of seals and sea lions sicken and starve – ‘Their liver, their pancreas, their intestines are basically shut down, and they are eating themselves from the inside.’

By Jed Kim30 December 2015 (KPCC) – Malnourished and dying California sea lion pups are likely to be seen again in high numbers on California beaches this winter and spring.  Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been monitoring sea lion rookeries on the Channel Islands and have found the lowest weights in […]

Graph of the Day: Total U.S. acres burned in wildfires, 2006-2015

4 January 2016 (NIFC) – The official total number of fires and acres burned in 2015 was released by the National Interagency Coordination Center on 4 January 2016. The 2015 fire season set a new record for the number of acres burned in the United States, totaling 10,125,149 acres [4,097,500 hectares]. The previous record was […]

Video: First aerial footage of Aliso Canyon natural gas leak

20 December 2015 (EDF) – Aerial footage filmed 17 December 2015, shows potent, climate-damaging methane gases escaping from a massive natural gas leak at a storage facility in California’s Aliso Canyon, with the San Fernando valley pictured in the background. The giant methane plumes were made visible by a specialized infrared camera operated by an […]

Photo gallery: Worst natural disasters of 2015

22 December 2015 (MSN) – 2015 saw some extreme weather stories — from drought in California to floods in Chennai. Let’s take a look at some of the worst weather disasters from 2015. [more] Worst natural disasters of 2015 Technorati Tags: global warming,climate change,flood,drought,hurricane,wildfire,forest fire,California,India,heatwave,pollution,Mexico

Scientists say climate change could cause a ‘massive’ tree die-off in the U.S. Southwest

By Chris Mooney21 December 2015 (Washington Post) – In a troubling new study just out in Nature Climate Change, a group of researchers says that a warming climate could trigger a “massive” dieoff of coniferous trees, such as junipers and piñon pines, in the U.S. southwest sometime this century. The study is based on both […]

Politicization of global warming hinders adaptation in U.S. cities – ‘Due to lack of political buy-in regarding climate change, Tampa remains one of the most vulnerable and least prepared cities in the country’

By Brittany Patterson18 November 2015 (ClimateWire) – Portland, Oregon, gets it — adapting to climate change, that is. Local decisionmakers in the liberal city, with a bustling population of just over 600,000 people, reported very high levels of concern about climate change and advanced adaptation plans, according to an analysis undertaken by researchers at George […]

California drought leaves migratory birds high and dry – ‘In back-to-back droughts, even the strong birds get pushed to the limit’

By Karen Graham     7 November 2015 (Digital Journal) – The Pacific Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migrating birds, extending from Alaska down to Patagonia. California is part of the flight path, and the state’s extended drought in now threatening the health of these travelers. In the northern part of California’s Central Valley is […]

Unprecedented California crab fishing delay because of potentially deadly domoic acid – ‘There has never been a fishery closure due to domoic acid before’

[cf. Toxic algae bloom may be largest ever off U.S. West Coast – ‘We’ve never had to close essentially half our coast’, and Scientists fear toxic algae bloom spreading on Pacific coast – Stretching from southern California to Alaska, this year’s blooms thought to be the largest ever recorded] By Lisa Fernandez5 November 2015 (NBC […]

Sea level rise will swallow Miami and New Orleans – ‘Hard to imagine how we could defend Miami in the long run. New Orleans is a really sad story. It is a lot worse-looking than Miami.’

By Kerry Sheridan 13 October 2015 Miami (AFP) – Say goodbye to Miami and New Orleans. No matter what we do to curb global warming, these and other beloved US cities will sink below rising seas, according to a study. But making extreme carbon cuts and moving to renewable energy could save millions of people […]

Time-lapse video shows Folsom Lake’s dramatic water level drop

30 September 2015 (ABC10 News) – A video posted on Facebook shows the dramatic water level drop at Folsom Lake. “I’ve been collecting and assembling these since March of 2015 through August 2015 showing the effects of the drought in California is having on our reservoirs,” Sacramento resident Ryan Griffith said in his Facebook post. […]

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