Climatologists at Colorado State University are confirming what many Coloradans already suspect — almost the entire state is consumed by drought. About 98 percent of the state is experiencing varying levels of drought, according to CSU, with the most severe in the Arkansas Basin, where drought ranges from D1, or “moderate” drought to D3, or [...]
Tag Archives: Colorado
“Once in decade” wind storm wrecks havoc across western U.S.
Several overturned semis on a Utah highway. Hundreds of thousands without power in California. A wind gust reaching 123-mph in Colorado.The powerful winds that tore across Western states Thursday created a path destruction that closed schools, left neighborhoods with a snarl of downed trees and power lines, and prompted some communities to declare emergencies. The [...]
Clearing forest killed by beetles costing $3,500/acre
Pine beetles have also ravaged another 17.5 million acres in the western United States and have a stranglehold on massive chunks of forests in British Columbia. While bark beetles have long been part of the natural ecosystem cycle, their current numbers are overwhelming, said Joseph Duda, forest management supervisor for the Colorado State Forest Service. [...]
Climate change disrupting bee pollination
Widespread reports of a decline in the population of bees and other flower-visiting animals have aroused fear and speculation that pollination is also likely on the decline. A recent University of Toronto study provides the first long-term evidence of a downward trend in pollination, while also pointing to climate change as a possible contributor. “Bee [...]
Aspen sunflowers populations failing as climate shifts
The changes in bloom times are glaring in Inouye’s Rocky Mountain plots. “Just 10 years ago, this project was perfectly timed with the academic calendar,” he explains. In mid-May, as soon as Inouye wound up his teaching duties at the University of Maryland, he would head out to his beloved mountains just in time to [...]
Wind storms on the rise in Southwestern U.S.
Turbulent weather blows into the Southwest According to many scientists, our atmospheric system is in such a “hydrologic cycle” with water, vapor and energy responding to the increase in heat from the Earth just like a pot of water on the stove. And this boiling point has made for increasingly windy years around the Four [...]
