Last update: 15 February 2008
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Climate and floods still govern California levee breaks
The authors examined over a hundred years of levee break data for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system. They discovered that the occurrence of breaks has been cyclic, as is precipitation here, and that those cycles had not substantially changed from the first part of the 20th Century to the more recent past (when most of the upstream control structures had been built).
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Water Year 2007 - Another dry year ....
Southern California has been unusually dry. 7 of the last 10 years were significantly below normal. With La Nina prevailing, will 2008 be the third dry year in succession? Find more details on the California drought page. -
California Warm and Dry - March 2007
March 2007 was warm and dry for the state of California. Preliminary reports place temperature 4.1 oF above normal and precipitation at 15.6% of normal. Statewide, the temperature was more like an average April and the precipitation was more like an average September. The Sierra region recorded the driest March since records began in 1895. Find more details in the California Climate Tracker. -
Mountain Views
The Newsletter of the Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT) "Water Year 2006 -- Another 'Compressed' Spring in the Western United States?" (Dettinger, Pasteris, Cayan and Pagano) is one of the articles highlighted in the Jan 2007 CIRMOUNT newsletter. Click here for Jan 2007 edition -
Our Changing Climate: Assessing the Risks to California
The summary report of the Climate Scenarios Project has been released by CalEPA and CEC. Click above for a pdf of the report. The report is also available on the energy commission's website (www.energy.ca.gov) and on www.climatechoices.org. -
Trends in snowfall versus rainfall for the Western United States
A recent study published by Knowles, Dettinger and Cayan examines a 1949-2004 trend towards more winter precipitation falling as rain than snow. The above figure shows the fractional change in winter snowfall water equivalent after removing the effects of trends in precipitation over water years 1949-2004. Please click here or on the above image for the full article published in the 15 September 2006 issue of the Journal of Climate. - California's Wet Winter - 2005/06
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Climate science 2005: Major new discoveries
The World Resources Institute has selected peer-reviewed journal articles that show major climate science discoveries of 2005. 3 CAP/CCCC related articles were selected. - Snow in the mountains east of San Diego (March 14, 2006)
- Snow in the mountains east of San Diego (March 14, 2006)
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California Climate Scenario Model Page
Information for researchers working on the January 2006 Secretary report to the Governor and State Legislature -
Estimating Irrigation Water Use for California Agriculture: 1950s to
Present
Data are now available from simulations which model agricultural demand for irrigation water based on soil conditions, climate (daily min and max temp, daily precipitation, radiation), and general cropping systems. Three reference climate years (1983, 1996 and 1997) were used to simulate the range in climate conditions from the early 1950s through the early 2000s. - NOAA reports warmer 2005 for the United States
- Yosemite Valley Flooding and High Merced River Flow: 17 May 2005
- Weekly Snowpack and Drought Monitor Update Report
- NOAA/NCDC Summary of Storms in California and the Southwest from winter 2004/2005 Adventure
- Illilouette Adventure
- Wireless Hydrometeorological Sensors in Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (SMER)
- Yosemite National Park Hydroclimate Monitoring
- Winter image of the California region
