drought

California Drought Enters Its 6th Year

California Drought Enters Its 6th Year

California’s 2016 water year ended Friday with lower-than-expected rainfall and a “snow drought” as the state’s snowpack measured well below average. Folsom Lake in 2011 and 2014. Giphy Water year 2016, which ran from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, was officially categorized as “dry” statewide, continuing California’s five-year drought. The onset of the new water […]

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    Lake Powell: Going, Going, Gone?

    Lake Powell: Going, Going, Gone?

    The 16-year drought on the Colorado River has drained Lake Mead and Lake Powell to their combined lowest level in history. But that’s nothing compared to what could happen, according to a new study from the State of Colorado. The study indicates that a drought like the one that happened in 2000 – 2006 “would […]

    Don’t Get Burned by Misinformation About Dead Trees and Wildfire

    Don’t Get Burned by Misinformation About Dead Trees and Wildfire

    By Douglas Bevington In California, dead trees are big news. In June, the U.S. Forest Service reported that 66 million trees had died since 2010 as the state has experienced a prolonged drought. Drought stress has weakened trees’ natural defenses to native bark beetles, resulting in a pulse of tree mortality. Yet amid all of […]

    California Wildfire Triples in Size

    California Wildfire Triples in Size

    A huge wildfire burning since Friday in the Santa Clarita Valley area north of Los Angeles has tripled in size over the weekend to 33,172 acres, destroying at least 18 homes and leaving one man dead. More than 1,500 homes have been evacuated as 1,673 firefighters battle the Sand fire. A California wildfire spread across […]

    Can Organic Farming Feed the World?

    Can Organic Farming Feed the World?

    By Kendra Klein and Kari Hamerschlag Forty five years have passed since Earl Butz, then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, asserted, “Before we go back to organic agriculture in this country, somebody must decide which 50 million Americans we are going to let starve or go hungry.” Time has proven Butz very wrong. The weight of […]

    ‘Houston, We Have a Problem’: 4 Ways Climate Change Impacts Texas

    ‘Houston, We Have a Problem’: 4 Ways Climate Change Impacts Texas

    You know the saying. “Everything’s bigger in Texas.” Unfortunately, it applies to climate change in Texas as well. Ben Yock and Dustin Nichols survey the damage done to Nichols’ neighborhood from a dry patch of asphalt in the middle of Bogie Dr. in San Marcos after heavy rains caused more flooding in the areas around […]