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NOAA report says California drought mostly due to natural causes, not global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Jason Samenow on December 8th, 2014
Washington Post: The build-up of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere may worsen western droughts in the future, but it is not the principal driver of historic drought afflicting the entire state of California right now, says a major NOAA report released today.
“Natural oceanic and atmospheric patterns” are to blame for the drought, the 42-page report says. Specifically, it highlights a persistent area of high pressure off the West Coast that has blocked rain-bearing storms from coming ashore – which some have...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on NOAA report says California drought mostly due to natural causes, not global warmingSouthwest drought, climate warming and fuel: an explosive combination for record wildfires
Posted by Washington Post: Jason Samenow on June 13th, 2012
Washington Post: During the last two summers, wildfires have run rampant in the Southwest, setting record after record for size and destructiveness. It's no coincidence that severe drought and much above normal temperatures have been occurring in these same areas - although land-management practices and a surplus of combustible material - bear some responsibility as well.
Consider all of these wildfire records set in 2011 and 2012:
Texas: Suffered its worst wildfire season on record in 2011, with 30,457 fires...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Southwest drought, climate warming and fuel: an explosive combination for record wildfiresNew USDA plant zones clearly show climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Jason Samenow on January 27th, 2012
Washington Post: Plant hardiness zones, an indicator of the coldest winter temperature, have shifted north and northwest since 1990 around Washington, D.C. (USDA; Patterson Clark and Laris Karklis - The Washington Post) Planting zones are retreating north all over the country, but the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) won't state the obvious: the shift is a rock solid indicator of climate change.
On Wednesday, the USDA released a new plant hardiness zone map, which contours the nation according to...
Weather disasters to increase report warns, climate change signal slow to emerge for some extremes
Posted by Washington Post: Jason Samenow on November 18th, 2011
Washington Post: A report from 220 of the world's leading climate scientists cautions climate change may bring "unprecendented extreme weather and climate events' in the coming decades.
The report by the United Nations Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change makes clear that warm weather extremes and heavy precipitation events have increased, most likely as a result of manmade climate change. And it projects with a high degree of confidence increasing hot weather and heavy downpours in the future.
"For the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Weather disasters to increase report warns, climate change signal slow to emerge for some extremes