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Archive for December 22nd, 2015
Christmas Eve may wrap up warm, wet weather records in US
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 22nd, 2015
Reuters: Santa may want to install air conditioning and heavy-duty wiper blades on his sleigh for his Christmas Eve ride into what U.S. weather forecasters say may be record-breaking warmth and wet. Along the East Coast, absurdly warm weather was expected to shatter records on Thursday including in Washington, D.C., where a forecasted high of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius) may top the record of 69 F (21 C) set in 1933, said meteorologist Richard Bann of the National Weather Service. Thermometers...
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Rising lake temperatures may worsen algae blooms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 22nd, 2015
Associated Press: Some of the world’s biggest temperature jumps are happening in lakes — suggesting that problems such as algae blooms and low-oxygen zones hazardous to fish will get worse, a new report says. An analysis of 235 lakes that together hold more than half of the Earth’s fresh surface water found they have been warming an average of 0.61 degrees per decade, the report said. While seemingly insignificant, the increase is bigger than changes recorded in the oceans or the atmosphere. Such rapid swings can...
California Struggles to Set Water Priorities
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 22nd, 2015
New York Times: Californians suffering through the fourth year of a punishing drought have a new worry. With fierce storms predicted for the winter, they are bracing for floods by stockpiling sandbags and rushing to buy insurance.
Yet those who need water the most, farmers, are in a poor position to take advantage of any deluge. If El Niño floods pour into the Central Valley, the farmers will inevitably watch millions of gallons of water flow to the sea.
This state, forward-looking on other environmental issues,...
Climate change is impacting lakes faster than oceans
Posted by Environmental News Network: Jpl Nasa on December 22nd, 2015
Environmental News Network: Climate change is rapidly warming lakes around the world, threatening freshwater supplies and ecosystems, according to a new NASA and National Science Foundation-funded study of more than half of the world's freshwater supply. Using more than 25 years of satellite temperature data and ground measurements of 235 lakes on six continents, this study -- the largest of its kind -- found lakes are warming an average of 0.61 degrees Fahrenheit (0.34 degrees Celsius) each decade. The scientists say this...