Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. Leaving the dead trees in place, he said, can actually slow the spread of a fire. In Chile, the current drought, with rainfall deficits of 20 to 40 percent, started in 2010, said René Garreaud, a climate researcher at the Universidad de Chile. “Arid periods over the last several millennia have dwarfed anything we’ve seen so far,” Smerdon said. “On a regional level, this means being more proactive about water management,” Smerdon said.

All of the ancient droughts lasted longer than 19 years — the one that started in the 1200s ran nearly a century — but all began on a similar path to to what is showing up now, they say. The environment is being degraded and information skewed to serve an agenda other than truth does damage to the prospect of reversing bad environmental practises. Part of the trouble with forestland in California is there’s so much of it. “This might provide this first glimpse into the future we’re in for,” said LeRoy Westerling, a climate and wildfire scientist at UC Merced. (Adapted from Williams et al., Science, 2020). Some environmentalists, though, say thinning the forests is a terrible mistake. The regional drought caused by global warming is plain to see throughout the West in the United States. By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Notice.

Brittany Covich of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency that funds projects aimed at reducing wildfire risks in forests, said what’s happening in Fresno County could easily take place in the Tahoe National Forest and other areas with lots of dead trees. Yellow box shows the study area. Insect outbreaks are ravaging dried-out forests. Partly cloudy skies. Using rings from many thousands of trees, the researchers charted dozens of droughts across the region, starting in 800 AD. How mega-drought turned Creek Fire into inferno, Community members mourn death of former Yuba-Sutter resident, EDD announces two-week reset to implement changes, Yuba-Sutter remains in state’s most restrictive tier, Yuba City man found guilty on three counts of sex abuse, Sutter County to purchase motel for homeless housing, Running for Election: Two candidates vie for Sutter supervisor seat, Visit Yuba-Sutter continues highlighting area, Running for Election: Marysville mayor race pits two challengers against incumbent, Running for Election: Two incumbents, two challengers for two seats on Yuba City Council. “All that has dramatic consequences in potable water provision for rural areas, but not so much for large cities, creating some social conflicts at the local level. A cow grazes in a dry field near Westbrook in this 2011 photo. The western U.S. is in the midst of a "megadrought" comparable to the worst droughts since the year 800 A.D., and human-driven climate change is largely to blame, scientists have said. A similar scenario is unfolding in South America, especially in central Chile, a region with a climate similar to that in western North America. In the new study, the researchers, using an extensive tree-ring history, compared recent climate data with conditions during the historic mega-droughts. Word On The Street: Community weighs in on Governor Newsom's death penalty executive order, 60 years of service, Rideout Hospital Auxiliary awards five college students with scholarships. Furthermore, the current drought is affecting wider areas more consistently than any of the earlier ones — a fingerprint of global warming, say the researchers. Please keep to reporting with context and accuracy. About 2/3 of the people who moved to Phoenix are from the Great… Read more ». The fluctuating red moisture line is based on tree-ring data until it converts to blue at the start of modern instrumental observations. In addition, unusual nature of the Creek Fire, with extreme temperatures throughout the fire zone and not just on the front edge, means it’s hard to get a handle on where the fire will go next. “It doesn’t matter if this is exactly the worst drought ever,” said coauthor Benjamin Cook, who is affiliated with Lamont and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. It isn’t as if the fire risk in the Creek Fire burn zone was a surprise to anyone. Several other mega-droughts, generally defined as dry periods that last 20 years or more, have been documented in the West going back to about … “It’s like with the coronavirus pandemic, we have to flatten the curve of global warming. “The 20th century gave us an overly optimistic view of how much water is potentially available,” said Cook. That temperature increase may be shifting the path of rain and snowstorms away from central Chile. Smerdon said he’s also concerned that the drought impacts are being underestimated because of an over-reliance on groundwater as a temporary buffer to the decline of river flows, and the drop of reservoir water levels.

What's your favorite thing about small towns: Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. The mighty reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell along the Colorado River, which supply agriculture around the region, have shrunk dramatically. Tucked into the researchers’ data: the 20th century was the wettest century in the entire 1200-year record. Forestland, much of managed by the federal government, accounts for about 33 million acres of California, one-third of the state’s total landmass. “We’re no longer looking at projections, but at where we are now. The most important are a combination of a warm North Atlantic Ocean and cooler-than average conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, as well as decreased solar and volcanic activity. And nowhere is the problem more severe, it seems, than the Sierra National Forest. In the Catalina Mountains in southern Arizona, forests struggle to keep up with recent increases in drought and wildfire activity, which are expected to continue due to human-caused climate change. The plumes are worrisome because they when they collapse, they infuse the fire with massive blasts of air. This culture of “fire suppression” left the forests heavily overgrown and highly vulnerable to even bigger fires, many forestry experts believe. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. “We may get lucky, and natural variability will bring more precipitation for a while. The study was published online Thursday and appears in the April 17 issue of the journal Science. It used to rain in the summer quite often in Phoenix during the 1970’s. This has intensified drying of soils already starved of precipitation. “It goes to show that studies like this are not just about ancient history. Furthermore, the current drought is affecting wider areas more consistently than any of the earlier ones — a fingerprint of global warming, say the researchers. Like the North American West, Chile has also seen extreme wildfires during the current drought. It was during that time that population boomed, and that has continued. Nature drove the ancient droughts, and still plays a strong role today. The effects are palpable. Angeline Pendergrass, a staff scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, said that she thinks it is too early to say whether the region is at the cusp of a true megadrought, because the study confirms that natural weather swings are still playing a strong role. Now, says Cook, it looks like they may have underestimated. Dozens of dead trees per acre is probably having a pretty significant impact.”.