Th3 Core

>partly conditions and partly luck.

Do you know what percentage of last year's fires were attributed to UNnatural causes?  (Power lines, arson, campfires, etc.)

Study:  Arizona wants to pipe "stormwater" from Mississippi River to Colorado River to save SW lawns, golf courses and other things.

https://mohavedailynews.com/news/131764/arizona-legislature-wants-feasibility-study-for-long-distance-pipeline-to-replenish-colorado-river-supply/

Does this mean the Colorado River will get Asian Carp as well?

The idea that golf courses and green lawns are tolerated in one of the hottest, driest places on earth is not just arrogance, but folly.

I don't understand the obsession. There is not a single lawn in our neighborhood of 200 houses and I would venture to say that if someone planted one there would be rebellion in the streets (basing that assessment on the outrage when there was talk of selling up to 5,000 gallons per day to a brand-new $12 million educational campus up the road that is unable to open due to lack of water).

First-ever Colorado River water shortage is now almost certain, new projections show

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/27/weather/lake-mead-colorado-river-shortage/index.html

We had an extremely wet & stormy 1st quarter but May has been dry. 1/4 of NC is under drought conditions.

North Carolina Burning Ban Halts Memorial Day Fireworks

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2021-05-29/north-carolina-burning-ban-halts-memorial-day-fireworks

>Lake Oroville

California's Sierra Nevada Mountains show what climate change can do as it worsens. The mountain snowpack, which provides 30% of the state's water supply annually, has vanished about two months ahead of schedule.

Water runoff from snow melt has been paltry, and major reservoirs like Lake Oroville are running even lower than they did during the record drought from 2012-2016.

Climate change is playing a key role in the drought, by boosting temperatures and increasing the loss of water to the atmosphere. Much of the snow went directly from frozen form back into the air, rather than melting into runoff.

Warming is also thought to be leading to increasing chances of dry fall seasons in the Golden State and shortened rainy seasons, according to Daniel Swain, a climate researcher at UCLA and the Nature Conservancy.

^{Good, bulleted article. Worth a scan.}
https://www.axios.com/climate-southwest-drought-wildfires-e0e0132c-c3d8-4872-b623-280f30383155.html

Much of the snow went directly from frozen form back into the air, rather than melting into runoff.

More and more precip is falling as rain too. If the reservoirs are empty, that's fine, but if full, there's no storage.

I forget the exact numbers, but the historic (1970-2000) snowline was 5700 feet. Above that altitude >50% of precip falls as snow. I think a 2 degree rise pushes that to 7200. A 4 degree rise pushes it to 9000. Again, I forget the exact numbers, but it roughly means that you go from 20% of the park being below snowline to 20% being above. It might be more dire than that even. 15% sticks in my mind for one of those numbers

Don't quote me on that. I know most of those numbers are incorrect to some degree, but the general idea is that a relatively small increase in temperature makes for a large decrease in storage for the simple reason than mountains are pointy and get smaller as you go higher.

I heard an interview with one guy who said that the frustrating thing is that they put the treated sewage back in the ground and then pull it out and treat it again because putting it in the ground just makes it dirty.

Unsurprisingly, surveys show that most people don't like the idea of drinking recycled water

Well... all water is recycled water. Or at least almost all water. I suppose there's some recombination of H and O that makes tiny amounts of new water.