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 Adam Voiland23 March 2014 (NASA) – On 22 March 2014, a rainfall-triggered landslide near Oso, Washington, sent muddy debris spilling across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. The debris swamped numerous homes, resulting in the deaths of at least 24 people, according to news reports. As of March 25, dozens of people were […]
By Frances Beinecke28 March 2014 (Washington Post) – Twenty-five years ago this month, the Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into the water. The public was shocked by photos of oil-soaked otters and reports that coastal residents had lost their livelihoods. The cleanup effort […]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is meeting in Japan to release its latest report, on the impact of climate change on society and the planet. Penn State professor Michael Mann and host Steve Curwood discuss how the report anticipates that increased conflict and declining supplies of food and water lie ahead. Transcript CURWOOD: From […]
By Scott Sistek 28 March 2014 SEATTLE (KOMO News) – We all know it’s been a soggy month of March. Now we have the trophy to prove it. The rains Friday were enough to set the record for the all-time wettest March in Seattle history. That’s not just Sea-Tac Airport,which goes back to 1945, but […]
By Larry Pynn29 March 2014 Vancouver (Vancouver Sun) – The federal government has chosen a remote stretch of B.C. coastline to square off against aboriginals in a fight over an imminent commercial roe-herring fishery. Federal fisheries minister Gail Shea is being blamed for an escalating conflict over a forthcoming commercial gillnet fishery that has resulted […]
By Bobby Magill27 March 2014 (Climate Central) – If you’re wondering where oil and gas production and hydraulic fracturing are happening near you, FracTracker has a new mapping tool that will help you find out. Researchers at FracTracker, an independent oil and gas research group that started as a mapping project at the University of […]
By Eric Holthaus26 March 2014 (Slate) – The death toll from this weekend’s mudslide through Oso, Wash., is still climbing, with more than 100 still listed as missing. The stories emerging are the definition of heart-rending. Here’s one, from the Seattle Times: One volunteer firefighter who had stopped working around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night said […]
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 […]
By Robert Evans; Editing by Robin Pomeroy24 March 2014 GENEVA (Reuters) – There has been no reverse in the trend of global warming and there is still consistent evidence for man-made climate change, the head of the U.N. World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Monday. A slow-down in the average pace of warming at the […]
