By James Joiner, Daily Beast High in the Himalayas, Everest climbers can only hope for the best after Saturday’s devastating earthquake. As the numbers of injured and killed — currently 5,900 and 3,218, respectively—rise in the wake of yesterday’s earthquake in Nepal and aftershocks continue to rock the countryside, the first groups of evacuees from […]
Read more
By Veronica Rocha, Los Angeles Times A group of filmmakers poked gentle fun at California skiers who were recently photographed skiing on an anemic patch of snow on the state’s drought-ridden mountains, by promoting a new sport: rock skiing. In the film from Happy United and Groove Guild, a skier and a snowboarder donning winter […]
Read more
By Jeff DeLong, Reno Gazette-Journal As a late-season snowstorm swept toward the Sierra Friday, scientists prepared to do their thing. In this case, that meant activating mountaintop generators that spray chemicals into storm clouds, encouraging formation of ice crystals that fall as precious snow. “It looks pretty good. We are pretty confident we will get […]
Read more
By Kathryn Reed Dismal snow years are good and bad for South Lake Tahoe’s Public Works Department. The good means the aging fleet doesn’t have to be used much. The bad is that the state reimburses the city in part for its snow removal expenses, which means fewer dollars will be in the coffer for […]
Read more
By Richard Goode My grandfather used to tell the story of traveling from Bakersfield to San Francisco by boat as a boy in about 1910. First up the Tulare Lake, then up the San Joaquin River and through the Delta. In those days, water in California’s San Joaquin Valley must have seemed inexhaustible. Then, the […]
Read more
By Felicity Barringer, New York Times In Modesto, utility records chart an 18 percent rise in farmers’ energy use in 2014 compared with 2013. No evidence shows exactly why this happened, but California’s drought, now in its fourth year, sent many farmers to their wells to pump from hidden aquifers water that normally would be […]
Read more
By Susan Wood Move over boys. Title IX aside, pro cyclist Alison Tetrick knows in order for women’s sports to receive the recognition the big boys get in their respective events, the girls need all the help they can get – sometimes from a few angels on the shoulders. And so it goes with the […]
Read more
By Sandra Chereb, Las Vegas Review-Journal CARSON CITY — With drought gripping Nevada and much of the West, the state’s top water official and a state senator said it’s time to inventory how much water there is and who owns what by tidying up the books on water rights that pre-date state law. “Clearly if […]
Read more
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times Research released Wednesday suggests the shaking from “the Big One,” the long-predicted major earthquake on the San Andreas fault, could trigger additional large temblors on nearby faults, intensifying the overall seismic impact. The study suggests that such a quake “could presage a flurry of ‘other Big Ones’ on […]
Read more
By Sage Sauerbrey, Moonshine Ink “Fish on!” A fisherman yells out as Mike Wier, outreach coordinator for California Trout, hooks into a behemoth rainbow trout in a pool just above the Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City. This 31-inch monster is one of roughly 40 trout that have become stranded in a short section of the Truckee […]
Read more