Climate change is making PNW hydropower less reliable
As drought settled in over the Pacific Northwest this year, some electric utility managers did something unusual: They looked to California for hydropower. While the Golden State’s reservoirs retained an abundant supply of water after an abnormally wet winter, in Washington, the nation’s leading producer of hydropower, some systems saw less water than expected. The hydropower variability this year represents one example of some of the changes the country can expect in a warming world, according to a new report from Stanford researchers. The report challenges the notion that hydropower will carry the Northwest into its clean energy future, suggesting that without meaningful modeling for climate change in energy resource planning, the West will be ill-prepared to meet demand and its ambitious clean-energy goals. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Karen Ducey)
Earth recorded its hottest-ever month in July. But how hot did it get in Western WA?
The World Meteorological Organization has declared that July 2023 was officially the hottest month on record. Interestingly, Western Washington was one of the only regions in the country that didn’t get blasted by heat throughout July. The Puget Sound area stayed at an average high of about 80 degrees during the mid-July “heat dome” that cooked most of the U.S. west of the Rocky Mountains. Western Washington escaped the heat thanks in part to a low-pressure system sitting off the coast providing the region with cooler air, National Weather Service meteorologist Carly Kovacik told McClatchy News. After a month of going against the grain when compared with the rest of the county, August will finally be Puget Sound’s turn to warm up. Continue reading at Bellingham Herald. (Steve Bloom)
Washington cities, counties now required to plan for climate change
Planning for severe storms, flooding, wildfires and poor air quality will soon be required for Washington cities and counties. A law passed by the Legislature this year requires local governments to consider climate change in their 20-year comprehensive plans beginning in 2025. The Department of Commerce released early guidance last month on how to do that. The guidance focuses on two new sections that must be included in long-range plans: lowering greenhouse-gas emissions and raising defenses against climate-related threats. With the law, the state isn’t mandating that localities meet specific emissions targets, just that they commit to strategies that can help with reductions. Sarah Fox, climate program manager for the Department of Commerce, said the guidance helps cities and counties reduce their impact on the planet as well as improve their ability to withstand the harsher effects of climate change. Continue reading at Crosscut. (Jovelle Tamayo)
Associated Press
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