California’s snowpack was more than twice the average in much of the state in early March 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images Dan McEvoy, Desert Research Institute 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 … Continue reading Is the Western drought finally ending? That depends on where you look
Parts of the Mountain West could be nearly snowless for years at a time in just a few decades. Snowmaking at Aspen Highlands Ski Resort started on October 13, leaving spots of snow on the ground and aspen trees.Kelsey Brunner Sarah Sax/High Country News Across the Central Rockies, it’s been an unseasonably warm, dry year. … Continue reading Winter without Snow is Coming
Conflicting visions in central Idaho force tough decisions over logging and prescribed burning. Carl Segerstrom/High Country News Smoke blotted out the midday sun as firefighters rappelled from helicopters into the remote backcountry of the Salmon River Breaks in central Idaho. A small but swiftly growing string of blazes roared across the granitic walls of the river … Continue reading Facing Future Wildfires, a Community Fights for its Forest
Wildfire needs new narratives. The podcast ‘Fireline’ is a start. Surya Milner/High Country News Flames cascaded down hills, engulfing old oak trees as firefighter Lily Jane Clarke watched, transfixed. She was standing in the thick of the August Complex, a giant 2020 wildfire that burned over a million acres of Northern California forestland. “It’s beautiful,” … Continue reading How to Live with Fire
Yellowstone is losing its snow as the climate warms, and that means widespread problems for water and wildlife Snow melts near the Continental Divide in the Bridger Wilderness Area in Wyoming, part of the Greater Yellowstone Area. Bryan Shuman/University of Wyoming, CC BY-ND Bryan Shuman, University of Wyoming When you picture Yellowstone National Park and its … Continue reading Yellowstone is Losing its Snow
Trees are dying of thirst in the Western drought – here’s what’s going on inside their veins Juniper trees, common in Arizona’s Prescott National Forest, have been dying with the drought. Benjamin Roe/USDA Forest Service via AP Daniel Johnson, University of Georgia and Raquel Partelli Feltrin, University of British Columbia Like humans, trees need water to … Continue reading Trees are Dying of Thirst in the Western Drought
Bringing tech innovation to wildfires: 4 recommendations for smarter firefighting as megafires menace the US Satellites can quickly detect and monitor wildfires from space, like this 2017 fire that encroached on Ventura, California. NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens Natasha Stavros, University of Colorado Boulder Record-breaking fires over the past decade suggest the western U.S. has entered … Continue reading Bringing Tech Innovation to Wildfires
