Mike Dettinger

Nope, no Environmental Protection for us today. Entrance to EPA in DC locked up tight this hot Monday morning.

https://www.mdettinger.com/_files/ugd/3b5c57_b9f6902fc6c14f4da54542683abea1b5.pdf

For an (ancient) larger scale context, back in 2008, it was noted that—after the Western mountain snowpacks—the sloppy snows in the NE could be expected to be next most vulnerable to warming. ->Map of historically how much of precip that fell would have been above freezing if 2C warming applied.

Long-term measurements of seasonal snowpacks indicate increases in mid-winter snowmelt and earlier snowpack disappearance in the northeastern U.S. Snowpacks are changing in northeastern North America as the regional climate warms, yet the relative influence of changes in precipitation compared to changes in ablation on snowpacks is poorly unders...

Fresh indications of snow loss in the Northeastern US, reflecting midwinter melt episodes more than rainfall-snowfall trade offs.

journals.plos.org/climate/arti...

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially ...

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Note in 9-panel panel...
+ One BIG-snow year (e.g., 2017, 2019 & 2023) can reverse long term storage declines, briefly.
+ Near-normal yrs 2016 & 2024 held their own but didnt undo prior declines; near-normal 2020 yielded rez loss.
+ Dry years (2018, 2021 & 2022) led to sig declines in rez storage.

The 2025 National Academy of Engineering Annual Meeting begins this Sunday, October 5 — featuring new member inductions, lectures on how AI is reshaping engineering solutions and society, and much more.

Register to attend: https://ow.ly/kGaw50X4wVA

Just to cllose out the water year, here is my final wy2025 storage graphic for the Upper Colorado, along with the previous 9 yrs worth for context. @cw3escripps.bsky.social

Explanations at
cnap.ucsd.edu/water-storag...

Climate Activists Thwarted in U.S. Courts Are Headed to an International Tribunal for Review - Inside Climate News Plaintiffs who sued the U.S. government in 2015 for promoting fossil fuel policies and failing to protect them from climate change have petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for an ...

15 of the original 21 Juliana et al. v. United States plaintiffs have filed a petition w/Inter-American Commission on Human Rights accusing US govmt of violating international law through its perpetuation of its fossil fuel-based energy system.

insideclimatenews.org/news/2909202...

World Rivers Day: Why river health matters more than ever On World Rivers Day, we are reminded that rivers are living systems, and that their well-being is inseparable from our own.

www.earth.com/news/world-r...

Israel’s ecocide in Gaza sends this message: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here | George Monbiot Consider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide – and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all life, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Is ecocide an intentional step towards the “Riviera Gaza” vision that the administration has proposed?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Experts raise concerns over frightening phenomenon in US rivers: 'The trend … is actually increasing faster' An in-depth study of riverine heat waves identified how America's rivers are running hot.

“Riverine heat waves” occur more often than air heat waves in 65 to 76% of sites, nationally.

www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/riv...

California “cold water droughts” (~same thing) increasingly result from mix of climate & landscape/water mgmt impacts, w/dire effects.

www.ppic.org/blog/tacklin...

What Makes Beaver Ponds Bigger? - Eos For the first time, researchers are able to add hydrologic estimates to find where reintroducing beavers could best benefit a watershed and the humans who live within it.

Beaver reintroductions & beaver dam analogs are important options for reducing climate-change impacts on western water resources. Cool new study looks into mapping & widespread modeling to identify options & opportunities...in today's Eos.

eos.org/articles/wha...

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Newsrooms Can Learn From Bill McKibben's Climate Journalism Some traditional journalists complain that McKibben is an advocate — the same criticism Woodward and Bernstein faced during Watergate.

McKibben is the father of modern climate journalism, so Covering Climate Now is honoring him with its first-ever lifetime achievement award. His advocacy-journalism re: the overheating Earth represents the best—not some aberration—of what journalism can do.

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Oh jeez! I forgot to call him out by name: The great Dr. Marty Ralph!

New study of hydropower developmt vs flood risk at 107 hydropower dams finds 41% of the dams provide flood mitigation & 26% dams likely increase flood risks. Dams with shorter downstream river lengths tend to more flood-inducing than flood-protecting.

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

@CW3EScripps's founding director was selected for an @agu.org's Ambassador Award this year! Given all his many contribs spanning & uniting atmospheric sci, hazards science, water engineering (FIRO) & public info for California, West US, & now East US & globally, this honor is incredibly deserved!

Fifth National Climate Assessment The Fifth National Climate Assessment is the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the…

In case you missed the big news earlier this week...

We've brought the website of the Fifth National Climate Assessment back online. Explore it at nca5.climate.us

The assessment, which was released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program in 2023, is the most recent state of the science...
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Projected times until 1st occurrence of Day-Zero water shortages (extreme unprecedented water scarcities) under various GHG emissions reported in Nature Communications. Dates of 1st occurrence are in 2020-2030s in MANY areas globally.

www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/c...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Americans are losing their democracy in the same way they’ve failed to stop climate change—not with a bang but a whimper We’re getting used to rising authoritarianism and temperatures. This is the only message that can break the fever.

A not-very-encouraging (for someone who’s been trying to communicate risks of climate change for most of 50 yrs) perspective on parallels between what American’s’ve accomplished re climate change & where we find ourselves re Trump/MAGA. Worth its quick read…

www.fastcompany.com/91408079/ame...

‘A Really Monumental Day’ for Chicago River: Clean Enough for Hundreds to Swim In - Inside Climate News More than 250 swimmers jumped into the Chicago River on Sunday morning, marking the first open-river swim in the once-polluted urban waterway in nearly a century. After a false start last year, the ci...

>250 swimmers jumped into the Chicago River today, marking the first open-river swim in that urban waterway in nearly a century! The city approved the event—organized by A Long Swim, a local nonprofit—earlier this summer. We can restore our urban rivers!

insideclimatenews.org/news/2109202...

Report: Two-thirds of heat deaths in Europe this year were the result of Climate Change Imperial College London researchers link 16,500 fatalities to excess greenhouse gases.

Two-thirds (16,500) of heat deaths in Europe this year are attributable to excess greenhouse gases (i.e., climate change).

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

EPA tells scientists to stop publishing studies, employees say Staff from the EPA’s Office of Water were summoned to a town hall meeting this week and told to pause the publication of most research, pending a review.

EPA has ordered scientists in its Office of Water to immediately pause almost all research & stop publishing studies. Researchers were told that, unless scientific journals had already returned proofs, studies will be subject to an additional EPA review.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Despite congressional threat, National Academies releases new climate report Things have changed since 2009: We’re more certain about the problems.

National Academies of Science panel finds that: The EPA was right in 2009 (when it found that climate change driven by society’s emissions of greenhouse gases are endangering human health & lives), and that everything we've learned since has only made it more right.

arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Impact of current and warmer climate conditions on snow cover loss in burned forests Wildfires are causing earlier snowmelt across the western US, and this effect would be exacerbated with projected warmer winters.

New Science Advances paper on the feedback loop between loss of snow feeding more wildfire, and wildfire resulting in earlier snowmelt. As to latter, in snow obs, under average conditions, snow melts earlier during 1st-yr postfire in 99%(!) of western snow zones.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Decades of public-lands planning, overturned in a day - High Country News The House voted to nullify three Bureau of Land Management plans, and critics fear many more could follow.

In old days (last winter) it was Exec Branch vindictively killing plans & agreemts (due to 'woke'). Now its GOP Congress! A hard-won agreemt by ranchers, tribes, hunters, energy outfits & enviros re: BLM mgmt of EMontana sagebrush plains just overruled by GOP Congress.

www.hcn.org/articles/dec...

Damn you autocorrect: in-arable —> un-arable

Trump axes climate reporting program, ignoring international courts and frontline communities “There is an international responsibility here, even if the U.S. still tries to deny that there is one."

New EPA proposal will “streamline operations, cut red tape, unleash American energy, & protect human health & environment“ (their words) all for low low cost (sarcasm emoji) of undermining international law, incl recent International Court of Justice findings on climate.

grist.org/internationa...

Interesting demonstration project for “phytomining” (growing gmo-ed crops to extract nickel from soil…instead of digging it out of mines) in South Africa. Plants concentrating to up to ~8% Ni by weight on otherwise in-arable lands?

www.fastcompany.com/91406694/thi...

Atmospheric River Impacts on the Greenland Ice Sheet Through the Last Interglacial Atmospheric rivers are dynamically coupled to orbit through latitudinal shifts in wind belts and seasonal shifts in moisture availability High latitude moisture controls the frequency, intensity,...

Our paper is out today in @aguadvances.bsky.social 🥳! My coauthors and I use a simulation spanning the Last Interglacial (~130,000 - ~115,000 years ago) to show how changes in Earth's orbit impact atmospheric river behavior and the ensuing impacts on the Greenland ice sheet. 🧪🥼⚒️❄️

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Article from January on unheeded warnings and fake opposition to real terrible things: https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/the-confluence

sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/the-conflu...