BAILEY — Jon Sommer is standing in the shade of a spruce forest holding a white mushroom with a golden-yellow cap to his nose. He smells it. Not like a sniff, more like he nearly shoves it up a nostril and inhales audibly. To most, the mushroom smells like, well, a mushroom. Or maybe the […]
rain
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water, Wildfire
Fire and rain: West to get more one-two extreme climate hits
By Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press The one-two punch of nasty wildfires followed by heavy downpours, triggering flooding and mudslides, will strike the U.S. West far more often in a warming-hopped world, becoming a frequent occurrence, a new study said. That fire-flood combination, with extreme drenchings hitting a spot that burned within a year, could increase as much as […]
Posted inEnvironment, Outdoors, Water
Nearly all of Colorado is under some drought status. A year ago, almost none of the state was parched.
Colorado currently is one of the drier parts of the country, and although conditions have improved in recent weeks, the long-term outlook for the state is relatively grim. Much of Colorado continues to suffer through extreme drought, and nearly all of the state is experiencing drought, according to the latest data released by the U.S […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Technology
We know the earth is warming. We know that will stress water in the West. But we don’t know how.
Flavio Lehner was a graduate student working with computer models simulating Earth’s climate at the University of Berne in Switzerland when he had a chance to join a research vessel collecting sea temperatures and measuring ocean currents between Greenland and Svalbard, Norway. “As a lifestyle, field work is very agreeable,” Lehner said. “But for me, […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Water
Pocket of severe drought lingers over Southwest U.S., including Colorado
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Drought has yet to give up its hold over parts of the southwestern United States despite a series of storms that have brought rain and snow to the region in recent weeks. The latest federal map shows a pocket of moderate and severe drought centered over the Four Corners region — where Arizona, New Mexico, […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Water
Colorado’s snowy winter and wet spring were a boon to the state’s reservoirs. These satellite photos show it.
It’s no secret that Colorado’s wet winter and spring were a big boon for the state’s reservoirs. That’s especially true when you consider the dry 2017-2018 snow season that preceded it. At the start of August, Colorado reservoirs were at 80% their capacity, or 117% their average, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. A […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Water
Colorado’s drought is at its lowest level in at least 19 years
The drought outlook in Colorado is the best it has been in at least 19 years, with the smallest area of the state being listed under some kind of dry status since June 5, 2001. That’s according to nearly two decades of U.S. Drought Monitor data, which has been recorded since 2000. “This is the […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News, Water
Drought has revealed for the first time a Colorado town flooded to build a reservoir. And scientists expect to see it again.
CURECANTI NATIONAL RECREATION AREA — It can feel a bit eerie standing on the bottom of Colorado’s largest body of water. Particularly if you are Bob Robbins. Robbins grew up here, although all that’s left of his hometown of Iola, a town west of Gunnison inundated by the waters of Blue Mesa Reservoir in the […]