California braces for two more atmospheric rivers – Rueters
California’s parade of atmospheric rivers may be nearing an end but not before at least two more of the rainstorms are due to drench the waterlogged state starting on Saturday…
‘Seas are becoming landfills’: the Senegalese surfer saving a beach – and a way of life – from plastic – the Guardian
It took a wave of plastic-strewn water crashing over Babacar Thiaw as he paddled out to sea for him to decide to act.
By the time his surfboard had carried him back to Virage beach on the north shore of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, Thiaw had a plan that would make use of the surfing community he had built there…
Coastal residents fear ‘hideous’ seawalls will block waterfront views – the Guardian
There were more than a few issues with a recent federal plan to wall Miami off from the dangers of climate change.
The $5bn proposal involved building a massive concrete seawall in the fragile marine ecosystem of Biscayne Bay. It included using taxpayer money to elevate private waterfront mansions, while constructing a wall through the middle of downtown and sometimes low-income neighborhoods…
The climate change clues hidden in the work of Canaletto – Royal Museums Greenwich
Canaletto’s paintings of Venice portray an apparently timeless city. But look a little closer, and all is not as it seems..
For 150 years, tide gauges have recorded the sea level around the city of Venice. These careful, consistent measurements help Venetians understand the risk of flooding in their city, and are also used by scientists to predict how fast sea levels may rise in the future…
Mass storm outages bring misery across California, exposing power grid’s vulnerabilities – the Los AngelesTimes
David Higares was on his fourth day without power in his Morada home in San Joaquin County when he woke up to indoor temperatures barely above 50 degrees.
His lights had flickered twice since his neighborhood outside Stockton went dark Saturday, following one of the train of atmospheric river storms, but his home remained dark, he said. Each time he checked, it seemed Pacific Gas & Electric had again pushed back the estimate for restoring power.
“It feels endless at this point,” said Higares, who lost all the food in his refrigerator and freezer due to spoilage. “Basically, we’re camping indoors.”
Since New Year’s Eve, hundreds of thousands of Californians have lost power — many multiple times…
24 trillion gallons of water have drenched California, and storms aren’t over – the Washington Post
Since late December, California has seen it all. More than a foot of rain has come down in the lowlands, with eight feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. For the state as a whole, the equivalent of about 24 trillion gallons of water has poured down from the sky — or an average of more than 8.5 inches of rain over every acre.
It’s not just water that has blasted the state. Winds nearing hurricane force have torn from the coast to the Central Valley and into the mountains, downing untold numbers of trees and cutting power to hundreds of thousands. A tornado danced south of Sacramento.
At least 18 people have died in the onslaught of storms, and it’s not over yet…
USGS Remote Sensing Data Tracks Coastal Erosion from California Storms – USGS
The USGS has collected and released topographic data that show the erosional effects of the January 2023 storms on the coast for the Santa Cruz region of California…Comparing the data with pre-storm conditions mapped in September 2022 provide “before” and “after” perspectives of the effects of the January storms. These data have been released under USGS Emergency Use Data authorities for data that have immediate or time-sensitive relevance to public health and safety…
Why California Is Being Deluged by Atmospheric Rivers – Scientific American
California has been hit by repeated storms fueled by torrents of moisture called atmospheric rivers that will only intensify in a warming climate
California is taking a beating from what the National Weather Service has called a “seemingly never ending parade” of strong storm systems, which started late last December and are still coming. Called atmospheric rivers, they are long, narrow currents of exceptionally wet air that shoot across the ocean, capable of dumping massive volumes of rain or snow on landfall. Although these storms deliver much of the West’s precipitation, they also cause most of the region’s flooding, with associated economic damages as high as $1 billion a year…
How Much Will These Storms Help Relieve California’s Drought? – the New York Times
All the rain and snow are undoubtedly good news for California’s water supply, but they’re unlikely to end the drought altogether.
If you’re looking for a silver lining to the punishing storms sweeping California, look no further than the state’s snowpack.
As of Tuesday, California’s mountain snow held more than twice the water content that’s considered average for this time of year…