Mike Dettinger
@mdettinger.bsky.social
Water/environ/climate news & my occasional thoughts/calcs, from CarsonCity (Wá∙šiw land), NV. Retired USGS & now p/t @CW3EScripps scientist. Bona fides? PhD.UCLA F.AGU F.AAAS M.NAE; www.mdettinger.com
Unhealthy smoke across most of the NW today. I prefer purpleair.com's map since it updates every few seconds (be sure to use the US EPA "Apply conversion" option). EPA airnow.gov data updates only once per hour and is up to a 12-hour average, so does not show rapidly changing conditions as well.
USGS's @hydrohammond has developed a new online streamflow-drought prediction tool. River DroughtCast provides machine-learning predictions of streamflow droughts up to 90 days in advance at ~3K gages across CONUS, with uncertainty information for each. Check it out! water.usgs.gov/vizlab/strea...
River DroughtCast
Streamflow drought status and forecasts for the conterminous United States
water.usgs.gov
Your 'moment of doom' for Aug. 4, 2026 ~ Easy come, easy go. "Hungary and Romania have been forced to shut down nuclear reactors cooled by the Danube for the first time, as record-low water levels deepen fears of an energy crisis across the region." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Romania blasts rock to divert water from drought-hit Danube to nuclear reactor
Hungary and Romania face energy crisis as record-low river levels force atomic power plants to reduce output
theguardian.com
For years, I've argued that we focus too much on "managed retreat" from climate danger, and not enough on movers' "managed arrival" in new places. It will take work to get that right! Thrilled to see NYT covering. Cincinnati's plans on this. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/c...
A City With a Plan
Cincinnati wants to take in people fleeing climate disasters. Plus, the latest on fires in Europe.
nytimes.com
In a “poke-in-the-eye of a lawsuit”, NV Energy is accusing Tract corp of circumventing the Public Utility Commission of Nevada's regulatory process thru a private-arbitration demand as it presses on with two data-center projects requiring “enormous amount of electricity”.
The Nevada Independent@thenvindy.com · 3d agoOPINION by John L. Smith: Did a Northern Nevada data center developer go behind state regulators’ backs? An NV Energy lawsuit opens a new front of opposition in the data center wars. thenevadaindependent.com/article/opin...
New polling from The 2035 Initiative, a climate policy research center at UC Santa Barbara, suggests that the Democratic Party’s “climate hushing” is not a winning strategy and that US voters would welcome candidates talking about climate action. By Kate Yoder for @grist.org:
'Climate hushing' has swept the Democratic Party. New polling suggests it's a mistake.
Climate change might not be voters' top priority, but new polling suggests that emphasizing it may actually boost support for candidates.
buff.ly
“The climate emergency kills,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday in the midst of devastating wildfires. “…What we have to do is reduce its causes, anticipate its effects, &, consequently, better prepare our country to protect people’s lives.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Climate change kills’: Pedro Sánchez speaks plain truth to Spain’s deniers
PM has long history of speaking out on realities of global heating but political opponents remain unnmoved
theguardian.com
Wildfire in 2000 destroyed 3% of Calif homes it reached. Since then, that rate has risen to 18%. Efforts to clear veg around homes & fortify exteriors outpaced by more extreme wildfires & bldg in fire-prone areas. www.latimes.com/environment/... agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
The percentage of homes surviving California wildfires is dropping, despite efforts to harden them
At the turn of the century, wildfires destroyed only about 3% of the California homes they came into contact with. By 2020, the rate had risen to 18%, a new study found.
latimes.com
I can't stress enough what a crisis this is. Trump's own intelligence agencies concluded that Iran attacked Minnesota's critical infrastructure and Trump is saying that it's Minnesota's own fault and denying it was Iran. The federal government won't defend blue states in a literal war.
U.S. Sees Iran as Likely Behind Cyberattack on Minnesota Water Systems (Gift Article)
Investigators cautioned that the assessment was preliminary. There were no indications that any water supply had been rendered unsafe to drink.
nytimes.com
CA DWR is (quick turnaround!) recruiting a Water Resources Engineer for the Snow Surveys & Water Supply Forecast Unit, to develop & improve forecast models & analyses, collect & analyze field data from remote locations, & communicate forecasts to agencies & public. calcareers.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/...
Engineer WR
Looking to make a difference? Join our strong and mighty workforce. We offer benefits and growth opportunities and impact the lives of millions of Californians.
calcareers.ca.gov
US government (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency) is warning of a significant increase in cyber attacks on water and wastewater systems, targeting water systems of all sizes. Warning follows cyberattack this week on >30 municipal water systems in Minnesota www.cisa.gov/news-events/...
CISA Urges Water and Wastewater Systems Sector to Protect OT Against Activity Targeting PLCs | CISA
cisa.gov
Narratives re: declining-birthrates often neglect dejuvenation, a progressive reduxn of demographic, economic, cultural & political role of the youngs. Dejuventation diminishes role of younger people in labor markets, innovation & debates re: long-term priorities. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
When the future loses its voice
Across many high-income societies, anxiety about demographic decline has become commonplace. Fertility rates have fallen below replacement level, populations are aging rapidly, and governments worry a...
science.org
It’s well documented that climate change is killing people, and U of Chicago Climate Impact Lab projects, by 2050, ~10x more heat-related deaths in poor nations than in rich ones. New report finds differences in access to energy for A/C will add to this terrible disparity. eos.org/research-and...
A Changing Climate Will Lead to More AC in Wealthier Countries, and More Deaths in Poor Ones, New Report Suggests - Eos
A new report finds that the regions most affected by extreme heat are also the regions least likely to have increased levels of electricity to power the air conditioning that might provide relief.
eos.org
Today is Global Ecological Overshoot Day...the day of year when total human demand on ecological resources & services has exceeded what the Earth can regenerate in the whole year! (NB: We in the US burned thru environment's productivity for this yr back on March 14.) overshoot.footprintnetwork.org
Earth Overshoot Day home - #MoveTheDate
Overshoot occurs when humanity's demand on nature exceeds Earth's biocapacity. In 2025, Earth Overshoot Day falls on July 24th.
overshoot.footprintnetwork.org
Bylines Network@bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 7d agoEarth Overshoot Day: how many Earths do we need? Earth Overshoot Day is the exact date when humanity's total demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what the Earth can regenerate in that same year, and in 2026, it falls on 30 July northeastbylines.co.uk/news/environ...
Future hurricane rainfall increases... a lot. Especially in Northeast. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... Lin @adamsobel.bsky.social @monahemmati.bsky.social Env Res Clim
Downscaled projections of future tropical cyclone rainfall climatology along the U.S. North Atlantic and Gulf coasts
Downscaled projections of future tropical cyclone rainfall climatology along the U.S. North Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Lin, Yen-Heng, Fosu, Boniface, He, Jie, Lee, Chia-Ying, Camargo, Suzana J, Sobel, Adam H, Hemmati, Mona, Sustiel, Jacqueline, Mandli, Kyle T, Padgett, Jamie E, Patel, Jainish M, Sury, Jonathan J
iopscience.iop.org
“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
Noticed something disturbing about Upper Colorado River Basin reservoirs (abv Lk Powell) this year: The normal mid-summer storage peak is utterly missing! Only comparable year since 2019 was 2021, but even that yr had a summer peak...it was just much muted. This year peak is just missing! 1 /2
This year’s US ag-research grant programs to reconstitute (some of) last yr’s gutting of research efforts to improve ag-yields globally are of course smaller but less obviously are also shifting focus away from Africa (to the Americas). grist.org/food-and-agr...
Inside the ‘America First’ makeover of a global hunger program
In remaking USAID’s Feed the Future Innovation Labs, Trump is abandoning an agricultural research effort built to benefit the world.
grist.org
In case anyone is still listening: 14.500 excess deaths have been recorded during the June heatwave in Germany alone. At least 70% (i.e. ~10.000 premature deaths) r due to man-made climate change in 1 week. The conservative RKI numbers r certainly a massive underestimate! www.rki.de/DE/Themen/Ge...
What happens to #AtmosphericRivers when they interact with #MarineHeatwaves? Our new paper now out in @natureportfolio.nature.com Scientific Reports provides an answer. We assessed the impact of “the #Blob” on landfalling atmospheric rivers on the North American west coast. Here is what we found 🧵
Using a global database of impact measures, new study calculates avg impact severity by country & found it is higher in the Global South despite >2x as many reports from Global North. Weak governance & limited mgmt capacity are main drivers of high severity. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The award highlights AGU stepping forward as a community with a coalition preserving U.S. climate expertise globally, emergency funding tools and hardship relief for members in crisis, federal lawsuits that kept scientists employed, and a public information campaign that mobilized thousands to act.
AGU is honored to be recognized with a Power of Associations Summit Award for our community’s work over the past year fighting for science and scientists. 💡 Learn more about AGU’s year of action: www.agu.org/agu-fights-f... #PowerOfAssociations #ASAESummitAwards
"I've never seen this level of agreement in my 30‑year career as a pollster. Across party lines, Western voters are clear—public lands should stay in public hands."
New Bipartisan Research Shows Western Voters Strongly Oppose Selling or Transferring Public Lands
New bipartisan polling commissioned by The Nature Conservancy shows overwhelming support for protecting public lands across the West.
nature.org
Samples from four San Francisco rain gardens during 15 storms, 2022-2024, were analyzed for 21 contaminants. The sampled gardens removed more than 90% of the chemicals. San Francisco PUC has built or is in the process of building 575 urban rain gardens. www.kneedeeptimes.org/sfei-study-r...
Study Shows Rain Gardens Are Powerful Filters of Bay Pollutants – KneeDeep Times
Scientists found rain gardens dramatically reduce toxic chemicals in stormwater while providing biodiversity and cooling.
kneedeeptimes.org
New evaluation of the progress (and future) of Western US snow droughts driven by fossil fuel emissions…four times more likely already & projected to rise to once every three yrs in the future. ½ insideclimatenews.org/news/2207202...
Global Warming Unmakes Winter in the US West - Inside Climate News
A new climate attribution study shows that heating from greenhouse gases could drive extreme snow droughts in the region every third year by 2050.
insideclimatenews.org
