Storm soaks California, but far from a drought-breaker – ‘The chances of getting back to average are vanishingly small because we’re simply too deep in the hole’

By Colin Atagi and Ian James 1 March 2014 (The Desert Sun) – A storm swirling in from the Pacific Ocean unleashed heavy rains across much of California on Friday, bringing the state a needed soaking but not nearly enough to significantly ease the drought. Snow blanketed peaks in the Sierra Nevada, while in parts […]

Image of the Day: Folsom Lake at 17 percent of capacity, 16 January 2014

Folsom Lake, 20 June 2011   Folsom Lake, 16 January 2014 25 February 2014 (NBC News) – Northern California’s Folsom Lake on 16 January 2014. The reservoir, 25 miles northeast of Sacramento, has shrunk from 97 percent capacity in 2011, to just 17 percent capacity this past January, according to a news release from the […]

Brazil’s epic drought a taste of the future – ‘Many of the coffee plantations in these areas will probably have to be abandoned’

25 February 2014 (mongabay.com) – With more than 140 cities implementing water rationing, analysts warning of collapsing soy and coffee exports, and reservoirs and rivers running precipitously low, talk about the World Cup in some parts of Brazil has been sidelined by concerns about an epic drought affecting the country’s agricultural heartland. With its rise […]

Record drought withers California’s Cachuma Lake

By Scott Gold 27 January 2014 CACHUMA LAKE RECREATION AREA, California (Los Angeles Times) – When Jeff Bozarth retired after 20 years as a police officer and signed up as a park ranger here last spring, he knew what to expect and relished every bit of it. Hidden in the folds of the Central Coast […]

Health experts warn of water contamination from California drought – Wildfire conditions are ‘what we would usually see in August’

By Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Richard Borsuk18 February 2014 SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) – California’s drought has put 10 communities at acute risk of running out of drinking water in 60 days, and worsened numerous other health and safety problems, public health officials in the most populous U.S. state said on Tuesday. Rural communities where residents […]

California drought: Why is there no mandatory water rationing? ‘Just drive by any reservoir and it’s horrifying. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand we’re in a drought.’

By Paul Rogers15 February 2014 (San Jose Mercury News) – Fourteen months into a historic drought, with reservoirs running low and the Sierra snowpack 27 percent of normal, a growing number of Californians are wondering: Why isn’t everyone being forced to ration? So far, Gov. Jerry Brown and most major water providers, from the Bay […]

In parched California, a message of aid and a warning from President Obama – ‘A changing climate means weather-related disasters like droughts, wildfires, storms, floods, are potentially going to be costlier and they’re going to be harsher’

By Diana Marcum and Evan Halper February 14, 2014, 9:14 p.m. FIREBAUGH, California (Los Angeles Times) – Standing Friday afternoon on cracked, parched earth where melons would usually grow, President Obama brought both a message of aid and an ominous warning to drought-stricken California as he outlined more than $160 million in federal assistance. The […]

Record Brazil heat pressures crops, energy prices – Northeast is in worst drought in at least 50 years, hundreds of thousands of cattle have died

1 February 2014 (World Bulletin) – Even by Brazilian standards – man, it’s hot. January was the hottest month on record in parts of Brazil including its biggest city, São Paulo. The heat, plus a severe drought, has kindled fears of water shortages, crop damage and higher electricity bills that could drag down the economy […]

Why global water shortages pose threat of terror and war – ‘Groundwater depletion is happening at a very rapid rate in almost all of the major aquifers in the arid and semi-arid parts of the world’

By Suzanne Goldenberg    8 February 2014 (The Observer) – On 17 January 2014, scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of NASA satellites and distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track the world’s water reserves. At the University of California, Irvine, hydrologist James Famiglietti looked over the data from the gravity-sensing […]

Increased climate stress causing extensive change to Australia’s eucalypt ecosystems

By Lucy Cormack13 January 2014 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Australia’s standing as the home among the gumtrees could be challenged, with increased climate stress causing extensive change to Australia’s eucalypt ecosystems. A study by the National Environmental Research Program’s Environmental Decisions Hub has found that climate stress on eucalypts will mean many of Australia’s 750 […]

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