In mid-November 2021, a great storm begins brewing in the central Pacific Ocean north of Hawai‘i. Especially warm water, heated by the sun, steams off the sea surface and funnels into the sky. This article is from Hakai Magazine, an online … Read more
Tag: drought
Water
Recharge Alone Won’t End California’s Groundwater Drought
Groundwater recharge is a useful way to put surface water back underground, but experts say it is a limited solution.
Summer Issue 2023
The Rewilding of California’s Parched Central Valley
As SGMA deadlines loom, groundwater sustainability agencies, environmental organizations, and farmers in the San Joaquin Valley are scrambling to prepare for a drier future by experimenting with ways to repurpose fallow farmland.
Summer Issue 2023
Historic Money for Bay Area Nature Has Started to Flow. The Challenge? Spending it.
Meet BIL and IRA—two federal bills with forgettable names that belie their enormous potential impact on the environment.
Latest Stories
Is The Western Drought Finally Ending? That Depends On Where You Look
After three years of extreme drought, the Western U.S. is finally getting a break. Mountain ranges are covered in deep snow, and water reservoirs in many areas are filling up following a series of atmospheric rivers that brought record rain and snowfall to large parts of the region.
Many people are looking at the snow and water levels and asking: Is the drought finally over?
There is a lot of nuance to the answer.
The Science Explainer
Meet the Tropical Weather Phenomenon With a Big Influence on California Rain and Snow
In a famous experiment in the early 1960s, the mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz was running computer simulations of weather patterns, trying to see how they changed when he changed variables like wind or temperature at the start. One day, … Read more
The Science Explainer
The Fastest Population Growth in the West’s Wildland-Urban Interface is in Areas Most Vulnerable to Wildfires
New research shows that some areas of the wildland-urban interface – the land where development ends and wilderness begins – are at much higher risk of burning than others.
Winter Issue 2022
Capturing the Flood in California’s Ancient Underground Waterways
Ancient and buried riverbeds can move and absorb excess stormwater, storing it for future droughts.
Climate Change
Now, California Waits for the Fires
Drought returns to California, with a long fire season ahead.
Summer Issue 2020
Summer Almanac 2020: An Illustrated Guide to Northern California Nature
Nature to look for in summer 2020.
