By Rong-Gong Lin II, Rosanna Xia, and Joseph Serna15 May 2014 (Los Angeles Times) – “May Gray” and “June Gloom” usually offer a cool respite for firefighters as they prepare for the summer and fall’s hot weather and heavy winds.. But for much of this month, May Gray has failed to materialize. Instead of the […]
By Greg Botelho, Michael Martinez, and Paul Vercammen15 May 2014 Carlsbad, California (CNN) – Thousands of homes, a university campus, a nuclear plant, a Legoland and parts of one of the military’s biggest and busiest bases: All have been evacuated due to a rare confluence of fast-moving wildfires scorching Southern California. Cal Fire Division Chief […]
By Jack Hannah, CNN6 May 2014 (CNN) – Tree poaching conjures up the lawless Amazon jungle, but America’s magnificent redwood forests now face a piecemeal but steady assault by poachers too, California officials say. Thieves are cutting massive chunks from the base of the champion trees, which are the tallest on Earth and are up […]
By Becky Oskin, Senior Writer5 May 2014 (LiveScience) – Mile for mile, there are almost as many earthquakes rattling Oklahoma as California this year. This major increase in seismic shaking led to a rare earthquake warning today (May 5) from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Geological Survey. In a joint statement, the agencies […]
By Doyle Rice25 April 2014 (USA TODAY) – Drought spread and intensified this week in seven western and central states, including California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a federal site that tracks drought. This week marks the first time in the 15-year history of the Drought […]
By Adam Shell 16 April 2014 (America’s Markets) – The price of fruits and veggies is going up, causing possible sticker shock at the grocery store checkout. Blame one of California’s worst droughts ever for the rising prices. Crop shortages, ranging from 10% to 20% depending on the type of crop, will lead to the […]
By Chris Dolce23 January 2014 (Weather Channel) – California’s reservoirs are severely depleted due to the ongoing widespread drought conditions in the state. As of 21 January 2014, 67 percent of California was in extreme drought [69% on 8 April 2014], the second worst category possible on the U.S. Drought Monitor [now 23% in “Exceptional” […]
By Joe Romm15 April 2014 (Climate Progress) – Natural variability alone cannot explain the extreme weather pattern that has driven both the record-setting California drought and the cooler weather seen in the Midwest and East this winter, a major new study finds. We’ve reported before that climate scientists had predicted a decade ago that warming-driven […]
By Doyle Rice2 April 2014 (USA TODAY) – Drought-weary California got more bad news Tuesday. Though late-season storms slightly boosted the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, it’s still far below normal as the spring melt fast approaches. “This is dismal news for farms and cities that normally depend on the snowpack – often called California’s […]
By Peter Fimrite 24 March 2014 Atwater, Merced County (San Francisco Chronicle) — A huge shift away from annual crops to nut trees has transformed the California farm belt over the past two decades and left farmers perilously vulnerable to the severe drought that is currently gripping the state. California farmers have spent past years […]
