News

The Sierra ‘Snow Line’ Seems To Be Moving Uphill — Rapidly

November 22, 2017
If you make the winter run to Tahoe on a regular basis, it might seem like you’ve had to go farther up the hill to find snow in recent years. Some scientists say it’s not your imagination. Researchers have been keeping their eyes on the “snow line,” the point of elevation...

Study Finds That Giant Sequoias Are Being Impacted By Drought Driven By Climate Change

November 17, 2017
Giant sequoias, long viewed as majestic, impervious guardians of the high Sierra, are beginning to struggle with the multi-year stretches of drought, according to research conducted in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks and elsewhere in the Sierra. The iconic trees, which only grow in some 70...

Study: Climate Change, Drought Threaten Giant Sequoias

November 9, 2017
A new study published online in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences finds that the giant sequoia, a fixture of California’s Sierra Nevada forests for the past 2.6 million years, might be in jeopardy from the effects of drought and climate change. The iconic trees, which only grow in...

What Do We Know About Mountain Snowpack, Runoff? Far Too Little

November 8, 2017
Most Americans may not realize it, but we really don’t know with a lot of accuracy how much snow there is sitting in the mountains during winter. We also don’t always have a precise picture of where the snow level is when a storm moves in, or how much will run off when the snow melts...

Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County is most destructive in state history

October 20, 2017
The onslaught of fires that laid waste to huge swaths of Northern California this month reached a new level of infamy Friday when the 36,432-acre Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County became the most destructive wildfire in modern state history. The fire, which destroyed an estimated 5,300 structures,...

Yes, Climate Change Is Driving Wildfire Activity

October 19, 2017
FEATURING LEROY WESTERLING – The record-breaking wildfires in California’s Napa and Sonoma Counties were the most devastating such disasters that area has experienced in decades. Dozens of people died and huge swathes of residential neighborhoods and vineyards were completely destroyed...

Climate Change Has Doubled Area Hit By Forest Fires in US

October 17, 2017
biography Dr. LeRoy Westerling is Associate Professor of Management at UC Merced and Co-Director of the Center for Climate Communication. His research interests include applied climatology and seasonal forecasting for wildfire management, climate change impacts on wildfire and related aspects of...

Sierra Foothill Charter School Partners with UC Merced to Help with National Science Foundation Grant

October 16, 2017
When UC Merced Associate Professor and Sierra Foothill Charter School parent Carolin Frank was working on her grant application to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the bacteria in conifer leaves and figure out if they take nitrogen from the air and give it to the tree, she knew she...

See it, say it: Climate change

October 14, 2017
“NOTHING MORE than ash and bones.” That grim description of how some victims were found underscores the horror of the wildfires that swept through and devastated Northern California. At least 38 people were killed , including a 14-year-old boy found dead in the driveway of the home...

Don’t blame wildfires on climate change

October 13, 2017
Climate change means we will have more and more destructive wildfires. It’s an interesting theory but it’s not the real story. No one can argue with observations such as the University of California, Merced research that show the Western United States fire season has grown longer due...

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