And in an environment where every drops of water matters, that unusually deep snowpack is a rare bit of good news, especially for farmers. While every snowstorm is different, there’s about an 1 inch of water contained in a foot of snow.
Water users all across west are carefully watching snowfall-measuring sites so they can plan for the coming summer. Here’s what to know:
How much snow has California gotten?
Many snow-measuring sites in the Sierra Nevada on the California-Nevada border are showing double the amount of snow they usually have — and some are two or three times higher.
At Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, workers are still digging out of the 17 feet of snow that fell on the base area in the first 16 days of this year, said spokeswoman Lauren Burke. The ski area near Mammoth Lakes, Calif., has received more than 31 feet of snow already this winter at its summit.
“The skiing and riding has just been next-level. But it’s safe to say we are excited to see some blue-sky days in the next week or so,” Burke said.
Around Lake Tahoe, some measuring sites have recorded 300 or even 400% of the median amount, compared to data going back to 1991. And January and February are typically the snowiest months there, so more will likely pile up. Last year, Mammoth Mountain only got 21 feet of snow for the entire season — 10 feet less than it’s already gotten this winter.
In the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Utah, snow fall is up to 200% above average along the Continental Divide in Colorado.
The Sierra snowpack, which supplies 30% of California’s water, stands at 245% of its average for this date and at 126% of the traditional April 1 peak. All three sections of the Sierra – north, central and south – are registering above 200% of normal for the date, according to the state Department of Water Resources.
Unlike the East Coast and midwest, where rain falls more consistently, California and the West depend heavily on snow to provide irrigation water for crops, and to provide drinking water for growing cities like Las Vegas. About half of the West’s water comes from snowfall.
Large reservoir systems divert water from melting snow hundreds of miles from mountain areas to farmland or cities, particularly the Colorado River. Water users all across the West are carefully watching snowfall-measuring sites so they can plan for the coming summer.
Knowing just how much snow will melt and feed the water supply helps growers adjust.
“Being able to do that has been able to keep our water district more flush, pardon the pun, and weather the drought a lot better,” said almond grower Christine Gemperle, 51, who runs Gemperle Orchards in Turlock, Calif., with her brother.
How is climate change affecting snowfall?
More snow falling as rain: Rain is harder to capture in reservoirs because it comes all at once, instead of melting slowly like snow.
Less snow on the ground means the air stays warmer: This creates a feedback loop where the warmer air causes precipitation to fall as rain, instead of snow.
Climate change alters how and where snow falls: This means historical records are no longer as accurate when it comes to predicting water flows later in the summer.
How is snowfall measured? NASA is helping.
Mountainous snowfall covers vast, sparsely populated regions. So how do authorities know exactly just how much snow has fallen?
For generations, most snow measurements were made by jamming an aluminum pole into the snow and pulling out a core sample. A quick calculation of the weight allowed scientists to know how much “snow water equivalent” was inside the snowpack in a certain area. Scientists returned to the same snow course survey areas month after month, year after year, building up a picture of snowfall in those areas.
Starting in the 1980s, scientists developed remote snow-measuring systems that could automatically weigh and report snowfall, broadening our understanding of snowfall across remote areas. There are now more than 900 remote sites across the western United States.
NASA helped develop a more accurate snow measuring system using a small airplane fitted with LiDAR, which provides a much more comprehensive picture of the entire snowpack, not just a few hundred areas.
It’s mid-January and the Great Lakes are virtually ice-free. That’s a problem.
Caitlin Looby – January 20, 2023
It’s the middle of January, and the Great Lakes are basically ice-free.
Ice has been slow to form this year, with only 3.2% of the lakes covered as of Jan. 19. That’s a near-record low, and roughly 18% below average for this time of year.
And while it’s still unclear how things will shake out for the rest of the season, no ice isn’t a good thing for the lakes’ ecosystem. It can even stir up dangerous waves and lake-effect snowstorms.
So, what happens when the lakes are ice-free? What does it mean for the lakes’ food web? Is climate change to blame?
Here are five things you should know.
Ice fishermen stay close to shore Wednesday, January 18, 2023 on Green Bay off of Bay Shore Park in New Franken, Wis. Ice has been slow to form this year with only 3 percent of the lakes covered as of Jan. 13. The near-record low is roughly 18 percent below average for this time of year. Lake whitefish, a mainstay in the lakes’ fishing industry and an important food source for other fish like walleye, are one of the many Great Lakes fish that will be impacted by less ice cover.Lake whitefish spawn in the fall in nearshore areas, leaving the eggs to incubate over the winter months. Without ice, strong winds and waves can stir up the sediment, reducing the number of fish that are hatched in the spring.
Ice cover is at a near-record low, but things can change
The U.S. National Ice Center Forecast releases a seasonal outlook at the beginning of December, which showed a mix of predictions. According to the forecast, Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario are predicted to have less ice, while Lake Superior is expected to be above normal. Lake Huron is expected to have an average year.
But this three-month prediction has a great deal of uncertainty, and much can change, said Ayumi Fujisaki Manome, a scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research at the University of Michigan who models ice cover and hazardous weather across the lakes.
Ice growth is pretty dynamic; it’s course can realign in a matter of days, especially on the shallower lakes.
Ice cover jumped up to 7% on average across all the lakes after the December cold snap, for example, but then quickly fell as milder temperatures rolled in. The change was especially pronounced on Lake Erie, where ice cover rose to 23% and now sits at around 3%. Lake Erie typically freezes over the quickest and has the most ice cover because it’s the shallowest of the Great Lakes.
Lake Michigan saw more than 7.5% ice coverage after the December cold spell, and measured at nearly 3.2 percent last Friday. Nearly all of that ice is in the bay of Green Bay.
Less ice cover doesn’t mean that residents around the Great Lakes are getting an easier winter. In fact it can be the opposite.
In the winter, when cold, dry air masses move across the lakes, they pick up water along the way through evaporation. When the air mass hits land, it drops all that water through lake-effect snow.
Ice cover acts as a shield, stopping water from evaporating off the lake, Fujisaki Manome said. So, when there is less ice people around the lakes typically see more lake-effect snow.
Most lake evaporation actually happens in the fall and winter months opposed to the summer, Fujisaki Manome said.
Little ice cover can be disastrous
This winter has already proven how dangerous lake-effect snow can be.
At the end of November, more than six feet of snow fell on Buffalo, N.Y., which sits on the shores of Lake Erie. A few weeks later on Dec. 23, more than four feet of snow covered the city and surrounding areas once again. The storm resulted in 44 deaths in Erie and Niagara counties, which sit on Lakes Erie and Ontario, respectively.
During stormy winter months, ice cover tempers waves. When there is low ice cover, waves can be much larger, leading to lakeshore flooding and erosion. That happened in January 2020 along Lake Michigan’s southwestern shoreline. Record high lake levels mixed with winds whipped up 15-foot waves that flooded shorelines, leading Gov. Tony Evers to declare a state of emergency for Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties.
And while less ice may seem like a good thing for the lakes’ shipping industry, those waves can create dangerous conditions.
The Great Lakes are losing ice with climate change
The Great Lakes have been losing ice for the past five decades, a trend that scientists say will likely continue.
Personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mobile Bay walk in the ice Wednesday, January 18, 2023 on Green Bay about 10 miles north of Green Bay, Wis. Ice has been slow to form this year with only 3 percent of the lakes covered as of Jan. 13. The near-record low is roughly 18 percent below average for this time of year.
Of the last 25 years, 64% had below-average ice, said Michael Notaro, the director of the Center on Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The steepest declines have been in the north, including Lake Superior, northern Lake Michigan and Huron, and in nearshore areas.
But this also comes with a lot of ups and downs, largely because warming is causing the jet stream to “meander,” Fujisaki Manome said.
There is a lot of year-to-year variability with ice cover spiking in years like 2014, 2015 and 2019 where the lakes were almost completely iced over.
No ice makes waves in the lakes’ ecosystems
A downturn in ice coverage due to climate change will likely have cascading effects on the lakes’ ecosystems.
Lake whitefish, a mainstay in the lakes’ fishing industry and an important food source for other fish like walleye, are one of the many Great Lakes fish that will be impacted, said Ed Rutherford, a fishery biologist who also works at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.
Lake whitefish spawn in the fall in nearshore areas, leaving the eggs to incubate over the winter months. When ice isn’t there, strong winds and waves can stir up the sediment, reducing the number of fish that are hatched in the spring, Rutherford said.
Walleye and yellow perch also need extended winters, he said. If they don’t get enough time to overwinter in cold water, their eggs will be a lot smaller, making it harder for them to survive.
Declining ice cover on the lakes is also delaying the southward migration of dabbling ducks, a group of ducks that include Mallards, out of the Great Lakes in the fall and winter, Notaro said. And if the ducks spend more time in the region it will increase the foraging pressure on inland wetlands.
Warming lakes and a loss of ice cover over time also will be coupled with more extreme rainfall, likely inciting more harmful algae blooms, said Notaro. These blooms largely form from agricultural runoff, creating thick, green mats on the lake surface that can be toxic to humans and pets.
Lakes Erie and Michigan are plagued with these blooms every summer. And now, blooms are cropping up in Lake Superior for the first time are raising alarm.
“Even deep, cold Lake Superior has been experiencing significant algae blooms since 2018, which is quite atypical,” Notaro said.
There is still a big question mark on the extent of the changes that will happen to the lakes’ ecosystem and food web as ice cover continues to decline. That’s because scientists can’t get out and sample the lakes in the harsh winter months.
“Unless we can keep climate change in check… it will have changes that we anticipate and others that we don’t know about yet,” Rutherford said.
Caitlin Looby is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and the Great Lakes.
Researchers find a more sustainable way to grow crops under solar panels
Translucent solar cells that split the light spectrum could allow for more productive use of arable land.
Kris Holt, Contributing Reporter – January 18, 2023
Andre Daccache/UC Davis
Researchers say they have determined a way to make agrivoltaics — the process of growing crops underneath solar panels — more efficient. They found that red wavelengths are more efficient for growing plants, while the blue part of the spectrum is better for producing solar energy. Solar panels that only allow red wavelengths of light to pass through could enable farmers to grow food more productively while generating power at the same time.
Previous studies have found that agrivoltaics can reduce the amount of water required for crops, since they’re shaded from direct sunlight. Researchers at Michigan Technological University determined in 2015 that shading can reduce water usage by up to 29 percent. Majdi Abou Najm, an associate professor at University of California, Davis’ department of land, air and water resources, told Modern Farmer that by splitting the light spectrum, crops can get the same amount of carbon dioxide with less water while shielding them from heat.
The researchers put the idea to the test by growing tomatoes under blue and red filters, as well as a control crop without any coverings. Although the yield for the covered plots was about a third less than the control, the latter had around twice the amount of rotten tomatoes. Abou Najm noted that the filters helped to reduce heat stress and crop wastage.
A blue filter over crops with a temperature reading super imposed.
For this approach to work in practice, though, manufacturers would need to develop translucent solar panels that capture blue light and allow red light to pass through. Matteo Camporese, an associate professor at the University of Padova in Italy and lead author of a paper on the topic, suggested that translucent, carbon-based organic solar cells could work. These cells could be applied onto surfaces such as glass.
There are other issues, including the fact wavelength-selective agrivoltaic systems may need to account for different crop types. Harvesting those crops efficiently might require some out-of-the-box thinking too. Still, the research seems promising and, with a growing global population, it’s important to consider different approaches to using our resources more productively.
“We cannot feed 2 billion more people in 30 years by being just a little more water-efficient and continuing as we do,” Abou Najm said. “We need something transformative, not incremental. If we treat the sun as a resource, we can work with shade and generate electricity while producing crops underneath. Kilowatt hours become a secondary crop you can harvest.”
Skipped Showers, Paper Plates: An Arizona Suburb’s Water Is Cut Off
Jack Healy – January 16, 2023
A water hauler sets up hoses to fill the tank at a home that is listed for sale in the Rio Verde Foothills outside of Scottsdale, Arizona, on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
RIO VERDE, Ariz. — Joe McCue thought he had found a desert paradise when he bought one of the new stucco houses sprouting in the granite foothills of Rio Verde, Arizona. There were good schools, mountain views and cactus-spangled hiking trails out the back door.
Then the water got cut off.
Earlier this month, the community’s longtime water supplier, the neighboring city of Scottsdale, turned off the tap for Rio Verde Foothills, blaming a grinding drought that is threatening the future of the West. Scottsdale said it had to focus on conserving water for its own residents, and could no longer sell water to roughly 500 to 700 homes — or around 1,000 people. That meant the unincorporated swath of $500,000 stucco houses, mansions and horse ranches outside Scottsdale’s borders would have to fend for itself and buy water from other suppliers — if homeowners could find them, and afford to pay much higher prices.
Almost overnight, the Rio Verde Foothills turned into a worst-case scenario of a hotter, drier climate, showing what happens when unregulated growth collides with shrinking water supplies.
For residents who put their savings into newly built homes that promised desert sunsets, peace and quiet (but relegated the water situation to the fine print), the turmoil is also deeply personal. The water disruption has unraveled their routines and put their financial futures in doubt.
“Is it just a campground now?” McCue, 36, asked one recent morning, after he and his father installed gutters and rain barrels for a new drinking-water filtration system.
“We’re really hoping we don’t go dry by summer,” he said. “Then we’ll be in a really bad spot.”
In a scramble to conserve, people are flushing their toilets with rainwater and lugging laundry to friends’ homes. They are eating off paper plates, skipping showers and fretting about whether they have staked their fates on what could become a desiccated ghost suburb.
Some say they know how it might look to outsiders. Yes, they bought homes in the Sonoran desert. But they ask, are they such outliers? Arizona does not want for emerald-green fairways, irrigated lawns or water parks.
“I’m surrounded by plush golf courses, one of the largest fountains in the world,” said Tony Johnson, 45, referring to the 500-foot water feature in the neighboring town of Fountain Hills.
Johnson’s family built a house in Rio Verde two years ago, and landscaped the yard with rocks, not thirsty greenery. “We’re not putting in a pool, we’re not putting in grass,” he said. “We’re not trying to bring the Midwest here.”
The heavy rain and snow battering California and other parts of the Mountain West over the past two weeks is helping to refill some reservoirs and soak dried-out soil. But water experts say that one streak of wet weather will not undo a 20-year drought that has practically emptied Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir, and has strained the overburdened Colorado River, which supplies about 35% of Arizona’s water. The rest comes from the state’s own rivers or from aquifers in the ground.
Last week, Arizona learned that its water shortages could be even worse than many residents realized. As one of her first actions after taking office, Gov. Katie Hobbs unsealed a report showing that the fast-growing West Valley of Phoenix does not have enough groundwater to support tens of thousands of homes planned for the area; their development is now in question.
Water experts say Rio Verde Foothills’ situation is unusually dire, but it offers a glimpse of the bitter fights and hard choices facing 40 million people across the West who rely on the Colorado River for the means to take showers, irrigate crops, or run data centers and fracking rigs.
“It’s a cautionary tale for homebuyers,” said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. “We can’t just protect every single person who buys a parcel and builds a home. There isn’t enough money or water.”
Porter said a number of other unincorporated areas in Arizona rely on water service from larger nearby cities like Prescott or Flagstaff. They could find themselves in Rio Verde’s straits if the drought persists and the cities start taking drastic conservation measures.
There are no sewers or water mains serving the Rio Verde Foothills, so for decades, homes there that did not have their own wells got water delivered by tanker trucks. (The homes that do have wells are not directly affected by the cutoff.)
The trucks would fill up with Scottsdale water at a pipe 15 minutes’ drive from the Rio Verde Foothills, and then deliver water directly to people’s front doors. Or rather, to 5,000-gallon storage tanks buried in their yards — enough water to last an average family about a month. When the tanks ran low, homeowners would call or send an electronic signal to the water haulers for another delivery.
It was a tenuous arrangement in the middle of the desert, but homeowners said the water always arrived, and had come to feel almost as reliable as a utility hookup.
Now, though, the water trucks can’t refill close by in Scottsdale, and are having to crisscross the Phoenix metro area in search of supplies, filling up in cities a two-hour round trip from Rio Verde. That has meant more driving, more waiting and more money. An average family’s water bill has jumped to $660 a month from $220, and it is unclear how long the water trucks will be able to keep drawing tens of thousands of gallons from those backup sources.
Heavier water users like Cody Reim, who moved into a starter house in Rio Verde two years ago, are being hit even harder. He said his water bills could now exceed $1,000 a month — more than his mortgage payment. Reim and his wife have four young children, which in normal times meant a lot of dishwashing, countless toilet flushes and dozens of laundry cycles to clean soiled cloth diapers.
Reim, who works for his family’s sheet-metal business, is planning to become his own water hauler, lashing large containers to his pickup and setting out to fill them up. He guesses that fetching water will take him 10 hours every week, but he said he would do anything to stay in Rio Verde. He loves the dark skies and the baying coyotes at night, and how his children can run up and down a dirt road that with views of the Four Peaks Wilderness.
“Even if this place went negative and I’d have to pay somebody to take it, I’d still be here,” he said of his house. “There’s no other option.”
Cities across the Southwest have spent years trying to cut down on water consumption, recharge aquifers and find new ways to reuse water to cope with the drought.
Experts say that most Arizona residents do not have to worry about losing their drinking water any time soon, though deeper cuts loom for agricultural users, who use about 70% of Arizona’s water supply. Phoenix and surrounding cities have imposed few water restrictions on residents.
Rio Verde Foothills once felt like a remote community far from the urban centers of Scottsdale or Phoenix, residents said, a quilt of ranches and self-built houses scattered among mesquite and palo verde trees.
But over the past few years, there has been a frenzy of home construction in the area, fueled by cheap land prices and developers who took advantage of a loophole in Arizona’s groundwater laws to construct homes without any fixed water supply.
To prevent unsustainable development in a desert state, Arizona passed a law in 1980 requiring subdivisions with six or more lots to show proof that they have a 100-year water supply.
But developers in Rio Verde Foothills have been sidestepping the rule by carving larger parcels into sections with four or five houses each, creating the impression of a miniature suburbia, but one that did not need to legally prove it had water.
“It’s a slipped-through-the-cracks community,” said Porter, with the Kyl Center for Water Policy.
Thomas Galvin, a county supervisor who represents the area, says there’s not much the county can do if builders split their parcels into five lots or less to get around the water supply requirement. “Our hands are tied,” he said.
People in Rio Verde Foothills are bitterly divided over how to resolve their water woes.
When some proposed forming their own self-funded water provider, other residents revolted, saying the idea would foist an expensive, freedom-stealing new arm of government on them. The idea collapsed. Other solutions, like allowing a larger water utility to serve the area, could be years off.
On Thursday, a group of residents sued Scottsdale in an effort to get the water turned back on. They argued the city violated an Arizona law that restricts cities from cutting off utility services to customers outside their borders. Scottsdale did not respond to the lawsuit.
Rose Carroll, 66, who is a plaintiff in the suit, said she would support any idea that would keep her from having to kill her donkeys.
She moved to Rio Verde Foothills two years ago, and runs a small ranch for two dozen rescued donkeys who had been abandoned, left in kill pens or doused with acid. The donkeys spend their days in a corral on her seven-acre property, eating hay and drinking a total of 300 gallons of water every day.
Carroll collected rainwater after a recent winter storm, enough for a few weeks’ worth of toilet flushes. The new cost to get water delivered to the ranch could reach an unaffordable $1,800 a month, she said, so she is putting some of the donkeys up for adoption and said she might have to euthanize others if she does not have enough water to keep them alive.
She said she got a call a few days ago, asking her to take in two more abandoned donkeys, but had to say no.
Health Experts Break Down the Science That Has Politicians Debating a Gas Oven Ban
Zee Krstic – January 16, 2023
Can Gas Ovens Really Make You Sick?Valerii Vtoryhin – Getty Images
New research published in 2022 has linked gas stove pollution to negative health effects, prompting federal regulators to consider potential legislation.
Health experts say that gas stoves may pose an elevated risk to respiratory health due to a byproduct of burning methane gas in kitchens, known as nitrogen dioxide.
A leading environmental pollutant, nitrogen dioxide has been linked to increased asthma and lung disease for decades — but scientists are now looking at how gas stoves may contribute to the issue.
Our experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute share ways you can reduce any potential health risks associated with gas ovens without purchasing a new stove.
Recent headlines about the potential for an outright ban of gas ovens and stoves in the U.S. may have you concerned that federal regulators are coming for your oven.
But despite sparking a political debate among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, White House officials said Wednesday that new legislation concerning gas stoves and ovens won’t be officially considered any time soon, CNN reports. In short, open gas flames in home kitchens won’t be banned outright — and that it’s unlikely any potential future regulations would affect someone who already owns a gas stove top.
But concern remains over new research regarding the potential drawbacks of using gas burners at home, with some experts arguing that it’s just the latest study to back up years of evidence suggesting gas stoves may worsen respiratory health over time — and potentially trigger asthma.
The evidence presented by researchers estimated that nearly 13% of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. may be traced back to exposure to chemical byproducts of burning gas. This purported link was prefaced by a similar report released by the American Medical Association in late 2022 that formally recognized “the association between the use of gas stoves, indoor nitrogen dioxide levels and asthma.”
These recent developments — as well as additional data from the 1990s to as recent as 2014 — prompted the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to announce it would consider new forms of regulation on gas stoves.
Lawmakers are currently debating whether or not regulation should be implemented that could require gas stoves to be sold with a hood that vents to the outdoors among other proposals, per Bloomberg, but others in the healthcare field are seizing the moment to educate American families about ways to improve their kitchen hygiene.
If you’re among the more than 40 million American households currently using gas ovens in their kitchens, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association, there are several ways you can improve indoor air quality that doesn’t include quitting your stove altogether.
Many risks can be reduced by better ventilation in your kitchen, explains Nicole Papantoniou, the Good Housekeeping Institute‘s Kitchen Appliances & Innovation Lab Director. That all starts with the hooded vent above your oven, which should be turned on well before you begin cooking — and regularly cleaned to avoid poor circulation.
Read on for more tips and to learn about the potential risks associated with gas ovens, plus what you can do right now to reduce them while cooking at home.
Why are experts worried about gas stove tops?
Believe it or not, there are many ways in which health experts say cooking at home may lead to poor air quality issues, which can impact your health over time. But a gas burner may indirectly pose more of a threat than an electric stove top, due to the byproducts that are released into the air as methane gas burns while you cook; namely, nitrogen dioxide, which has been linked to respiratory issues as well as cardiovascular risks, explains Huawei Dong, M.D., pulmonology and critical care medicine professor at the University of California, Irvine’s School of Medicine and pulmonologist at UCI Health.
“When we breathe that in, it causes irritation and local inflammation into the bronchial tubes and the airways,” Dr. Dong says, which you may not even notice if you’ve never experienced prior respiratory issues like asthma. “One of the key things that happens in asthma patients, whether you’re a child or an adult, is that the airways become inflamed and they become narrower, causing things like wheezing and shortness of breath.”
It’s important to note that nitrogen dioxide is produced whenever fossil fuels are burned, which means the overwhelming majority of this particular pollutant comes from vehicles and nearby power plants, adds Dr. Dong. And while there are established guidelines released by officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that dictate appropriate levels of nitrogen dioxide, especially as it relates to vehicle emissions and other factors, there aren’t guidelines for indoor settings just yet.
In fact, researchers have established that gas stove tops produce considerable nitrogen dioxide when they’re in use. A Stanford University study published in early 2022 suggests that the amount of nitrogen dioxide emitted from gas stoves and ovens exceeded EPA standards within minutes. But since there isn’t any regulation for indoor appliances just yet, this is where CPSC officials want to step in.
How can gas stove tops impact your health?
Gas ovens aren’t likely to be the sole reason that you develop a respiratory issue, including asthma — Dr. Dong tells Good Housekeeping that most asthma cases, including those in children, are considered “multifactorial” by doctors who treat them.
After all, genetics often play a heavy hand in how likely it is for someone to develop asthma or other breathing difficulties. But available research on nitrogen dioxide and other commonplace air pollutants indicates that there is a link between poor respiratory health and increased exposure, and the December 2022 report only further suggests that impactful exposure may be occurring indoors more frequently than we realize.
“Some of the risk for asthma certainly may come down to what we’re exposed to in the home, as well as where we live and the outdoor environments we spend time in due to air pollution,” she says. “We’ve known that for decades in seeing the development of worse asthma and lung disease — but, most of that effect is cumulative over time.”
Translation: Sitting beside an open gas burner in your kitchen for a few minutes won’t significantly increase your asthma risk, even for children and their developing lungs and immune systems. What healthcare experts are more concerned about is the exposure effect over the course of months and years — and how gas ovens may exacerbate breathing issues for someone who is already asthmatic or seriously hampered by their respiratory health. This is when Dr. Dong says more immediate, short-term symptoms are noticeable (and the need for prevention is key).
Despite the recent research, the need for more evidence on how nitrogen dioxide triggers respiratory issues indoors is needed, as there is some conflicting research on the childhood asthma link that CPSC officials referred to earlier this year. A 2013 Lancet Respiratory Medicine study that touts data collected from 500,000 children globally indicates that researchers couldn’t determine “an association” between gas stoves and self-reported asthma diagnosis or symptoms.
In the end, future regulation on gas stoves may simply focus on the sale and manufacturing of gas ovens; back in October, a peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Science and Technology illustrated that some gas stoves may leak methane gas and benzene, another pollutant, even when not in use. New manufacturing regulations may prevent this from happening, as well as encourage the use of properly installed vents that effectively remove airborne pollutants from kitchens entirely.
Are gas stoves unsafe?
CPSC officials have clarified that a ban on gas stoves and ovens isn’t on the table currently — and you shouldn’t feel the need to rip out your gas stove ASAP over air quality concerns, as both Good Housekeeping Institute pros and healthcare officials agree that there are many ways to reduce any inherent respiratory risks.
Raj Dasgupta, M.D., a pulmonary critical care specialist at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, tells Good Housekeeping that nitrogen dioxide build-up can largely be dissipated through the use of an exhaust hood, or range hood, in addition to odors, smoke and grease. Additionally, opening windows for fresh air can better assist range hoods that don’t vent directly to the outdoors.
Of course, not every kitchen has a hooded vent over a gas stove top, which is the best way to ensure air pollutants don’t hang around your kitchen. If your space is only equipped with a vented fan, opening windows and providing fresh air supply is even more important, Dr. Dasgupta says.
You may also want to consider investing in an air purifier. “There aren’t a lot of downsides to having an air purifier in your home, aside from the financial investment — they help remove various contaminants from the air in your kitchen, namely smoke and odors,” he adds, as well as dust, pollen and pet dander, all of which may contribute to asthmatic risk and on-set symptoms over time as well.
Regular maintenance of your gas oven and stovetop is also crucial to ensure that air pollution remains as minimal as possible while you cook. Our experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute‘s Kitchen Appliances & Innovation Lab recommend doing the following:
Turn vents or fans on before you start cooking. It takes time for high-speed fan settings to kick in, and smoke and other pollutants in the air simply hang suspended if air flow isn’t strong enough. Putting your vent or fan on before you begin cooking ensures this won’t happen
Keep your gas burner clean. Grease, splatter and other kitchen residue can easily build up over the gas burners on your stove top, which may delay or prevent the complete ignition of a burner, which could contribute to potential gas leakage over time, according to Papantoniou. Keeping your burners clean can help prevent this from happening.
Replace fan filters and have vents serviced regularly. You can do this with the help of your oven’s manufacturer. Replacing filters regularly ensures grease and other airborne pollutants are captured effectively, leaving less work for any air purifiers you have elsewhere in your home. And if it’s possible, work with a professional
If you’re able, consider investing in a vent hood that has an optimized capture efficiency range — even if that means replacing an outdated model, advises Dan DiClerico, the Good Housekeeping Institute‘s home improvement and outdoor director. “It should be within the 70 to 80% range, and is usually included as a spec on many newer models, though manufacturers aren’t required to list it,” he adds.
The bottom line:
It’s unclear when and if federal consumer safety regulators will introduce new rules for oven and stove manufacturers. Americans should rest easy knowing that there won’t be any changes required for those who currently use gas ranges in their home — though, research is clear that these types of ovens likely pose an additional health risk compared to electric models.
Focusing on improving the ventilation in your kitchen is key if you’re worried that cooking is adding to poor air quality at home. Simply working to open as many windows or doors as you can while cooking can offset poor air quality, and is essential for anyone who is already facing established respiratory issues. And taking the time to have any hooded range vent or kitchen fan regularly serviced by HVAC professionals may reduce the risk of suspended smoke, odor and other pollutants above your stove top.
Additionally, air purifiers can work to combat pollutants in your kitchen as well as other airborne factors in your home contributing to respiratory irritation. Experts say dust, pollen, pet dander and odors are often targeted by air purifiers, but the best air purifiers also work to reduce volatile nitrogen dioxide released into kitchens over time.
What are the causes of climate change? Why scientists say humans are to blame.
Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAYS – January 14, 2023
Scientists around the world are striving to learn more about how rising average temperatures worldwide influence the weather. They say it’s increasingly likely that climate change is making weather events more intense, more frequent or of longer duration.
But what is causing climate change? Why are global temperatures rising? And is the warming climate to blame for wild weather events? Here’s some key information:
Monitoring stations around the world add to a growing trove of information that reveals how temperature and rainfall are changing. Some have decades of measurements, while others have more than a century of data. In Japan, they’ve recorded the start of the cherry tree bloom for more than 1,200 years.
Scientists use these historical records to study the rise in global average temperatures. For example, records show how sap rises earlier in maple trees or when wildfire seasons start earlier. They know warmer temperatures delay ice formation on the Great Lakes, when the warmer water temperatures fuel more lake effect snow.
What is the most important cause of climate change?
The biggest influence on the planet’s changing climate is the release of emissions into the atmosphere from burning oil, gas and coal to move people and goods from place to place and to create energy, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Here’s how that works:
Carbon dioxide and other naturally occurring gases have always existed in the atmosphere, keeping the world warm just as a greenhouse keeps tropical plants alive in the winter. Scientists see that “greenhouse effect” in ice cores, sediments and tree rings.
Modern day measurements show CO2 emissions are rising. Since 1958, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii has grown from 316 parts per million to 417 parts per million.
Measured in such small amounts, the change might seem minuscule. However, because CO2 has risen by more than 30% percent, NASA and other say the changes are having an out-sized impact on global average temperatures.
National and international studies document how excess carbon dioxide traps excess energy and causes the planet to get hotter faster.
If CO2 doubles above the pre-industrial levels benchmark, the draft of the latest National Climate Assessment said global temperatures could rise by 4.5 – 7.2 degrees, spawning deadly heat waves, crop damage and other cascading impacts around the world.
What are other causes of climate change?
Manufacturing, mining and cutting down forests.
Release of methane and nitrous oxide also contribute to the greenhouse effect.
The El Niño Southern Oscillation, a pattern of changing water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, can change weather patterns.
Volcanic eruptions can produce carbon dioxide emissions that warm the Earth, but also aerosol particles that have a cooling effect.
How to stop climate change
So what can be done to prevent the dire consequences forecast if emissions and temperatures continue to rise?
Scientists with the United Nations and governments around the world say fossil fuel emissions must be slashed and soon to avoid “catastrophic consequences.” To keep the increase in global average temperatures at 2.7 degrees compared to temperatures in the late 1800s, the world must reach “net zero” CO2 emissions by 2050, according to the latest climate assessment.
The world can’t slash all emissions, so reaching the result of net zero emissions requires removing carbon dioxide from the air through both natural and mechanical means, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has reported. That includes measures such as preserving and protecting forests and wetlands that store carbon and developing technologies that can effectively suck carbon from the air.
Other methods urged by the U.N. and others include living a less carbon-intensive lifestyle and increasing the use of renewable energy resources.
Even if the world does reach net zero emissions, the national climate assessment states it will be impossible to prevent some of the warming already in motion.
Swedish miner finds Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth metals
January 13, 2023
Location: Kiruna, Sweden
LKAB says it has identified more than 1 million tons of rare earth oxides
in the Kiruna area in the far north of Sweden
[Ebba Busch, Swedish Minister for Energy, Business and Industry]
“This is really an important day for Sweden and for the whole of the European Union. It is a significant happening which can play a key role in securing a green transition within the EU.”
Rare earth minerals are essential to many high-tech manufacturing processes
and are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and portable electronics
Rare earth elements are currently not mined in Europe
leaving the region depending on imports from elsewhere, such as China
“We can reduce carbon footprints and strengthen our competitiveness at the same time. Obviously this is the million dollar question: is it possible to combine economic growth while at the same time reaching high set climate goals? And I say, the answer is yes. ‘’
Your Gas Stove Is Bad For Your Health. Here’s What To Know.
Jillian Wilson – January 13, 2023
If you’re using a gas stove at home, it’s important to open a window while you cook.
If you’re using a gas stove at home, it’s important to open a window while you cook.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that it is exploring potential regulations on gas stoves, which, unbeknownst to many, have harmful impacts on our health and the environment.
While rumors of a potential ban were circulating a few days ago, CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric put those to rest in a Jan. 11 statement saying he is “not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so.”
Instead, the agency will prioritize research about the health risks of gas stoves and aim to create solutions that address these risks. So, no one is coming for your gas stove — but it’s worth knowing that there are serious health risks that come with natural gas cooking.
The main pollutant of concern when it comes to gas stoves is nitrogen dioxide, said Shelly Miller, a professor of medical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.
This is “a pollutant that we also regulate for outdoor air quality. It’s an EPA-regulated pollutant,” she told HuffPost. For reference, the EPA — or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — regulates air pollutants based on health standards that are reviewed every few years, Miller added.
“We know nitrogen dioxide is bad, we know that the EPA regulates it but only outdoors,” Miller said, “but here we have this major source indoors, which we have not paid any attention to for decades.”
And it’s something worth paying attention to. Below, experts share the health risks of gas stoves and what to do if you have one:
Gas stoves can have negative effects on the health of both children and adults.
“Nitrogen dioxide is a respiratory irritant,” Miller said, adding that it can increase the risk of asthma attacks, incidence of respiratory infections and respiratory disease.
Miller said increased incidence of respiratory diseases is most often seen in sensitive populations like older adults and children.
Bryan Cummings, a research scientist at Drexel University’s College of Engineering, pointed out a recent study that found that 12.7% of childhood asthma in the U.S. can be attributed to the use of gas stoves indoors.
But pollutants from gas stoves don’t only impact kids. Nitrogen dioxide can exacerbate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, commonly known as COPD, in adults, and some evidence says that it can negatively impact cognitive performance in folks of all ages, Cummings added.
As an oxidant, it may impact your lungs and your cardiovascular system, Miller explained. In fact, according to the American Heart Association, nitrogen dioxide exposure puts you at increased risk of heart attack.
It is worth noting that nitrogen dioxide exposure does not only come from your gas stove, but also comes from factors like car pollution too. But, according to Cummings, the release of nitrogen dioxide in your home is particularly harmful because it’s emitted into a confined space that often does not have great circulation with outdoor air. And, as Miller noted above, nitrogen dioxide emissions outdoors are regulated.
Studies show that gas stoves cause increased rates of childhood asthma.
Studies show that gas stoves cause increased rates of childhood asthma.
If you have a gas stove, there are things you can do to reduce your exposure to nitrogen dioxide.
First, figure out if the vent on your gas stove expels the air outdoors or just circulates it around your kitchen.
Cummings said if your gas stove is below a microwave and does not have a cooking hood, it likely just pushes the pollutants around your home. If you have a hood above your stove, it’s likely that the pollutants are disposed of outdoors.
But this is just a general rule of thumb and isn’t necessarily true across the board; it’s worth checking with your landlord or the company that installed your appliances to determine where the air goes. If you find that your cooking hood moves the air outdoors, just make sure you turn on your air vent every time you cook (and not just when it gets smoky in your home).
If your vent does not expel the air outdoors, both Cummings and Miller said you should open a window — even just a few inches — while you use your gas stove. And if you don’t have a window in your kitchen, open a window elsewhere in your home to reduce the amount of pollution mixing in with your home’s air.
Additionally, if you have a HEPA air filter, you should turn that on when you cook, Miller suggested. “The air cleaner will remove all the particulate matter [but] you have to have a filter with activated carbon to remove the nitrogen dioxide,” she said.
When it comes time for a new stove, it’s worth purchasing a non-gas stove.
Getting a new stove is costly for those who own homes and largely impossible for those who rent. But, if you are in a position now or in a few years to get a new stove, consider an electric or induction stove instead of a gas stove, both experts said.
“They produce absolutely zero emissions from the heating process itself,” Cummings said. “Cooking your food might produce some emissions but that’s a totally different classification of pollution than what you get from a gas stove.”
In other words, you won’t be breathing in those harmful pollutants that come from natural gas.
On top of the health concerns, these electrically powered stoves are also better for the environment (though induction stoves, which are more energy-efficient, are also more costly).
When it comes to adding regulations around gas stoves, Miler said a decision to implement some restrictions would be great for the sake of climate change. “We need to start moving away from fossil fuel use in our homes — it would just be a huge leap forward from this issue,” she noted. Gas stoves use fossil fuels, which are bad for the planet.
Cummings added that some parts of the U.S. still get electricity (which powers both electric and induction stoves) from fossil fuels, but these stoves “will become increasingly cleaner to use as our electricity grid transitions to renewable.”
All in all, moving to a non-gas-powered stove is ideal, though impossible for many people (and that does not make you a bad person, Cummings stressed).
If you are stuck with a gas stove for the time being, follow the advice above to lower the health risks as you cook.
California storms erase extreme drought from nearly all of state
In a single week, the portions of the state classified as experiencing extreme drought in California fell from 27.1% to 0.32%.
David Knowles, Senior Editor – January 12, 2023
Flooding from the Sacramento and American rivers, near downtown Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 11. (Fred Greaves/Reuters)
BERKELEY, Calif. — There is a silver lining to the relentless California storms that have so far killed at least 18 people and racked up an estimated $1 billion in damages: In a single week, extreme drought conditions that had gripped almost one-third of the state have been downgraded nearly everywhere.
The U.S. Drought Monitor released an updated map Thursday that accounts for the series of atmospheric river storms that have doused the state in recent weeks with more than 24 trillion gallons of water. It shows that “extreme drought,” the second-highest classification used by the agency has been all but erased from the interior sections of the state.
A U.S. Drought Monitor map of conditions in California. (U.S. Drought Monitor)
In a single week, the portions of the state classified as experiencing extreme drought in California fell from 27.1% to 0.32%, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Still, 46% of the state remains classified in “severe drought,” though that figure fell from 71% a week ago.
Drought conditions in California from the week of Jan. 3. (U.S. Drought Monitor)
Extreme drought conditions are still widespread in Nevada and Utah, and the California storms have not affected the Colorado River Basin, including the badly depleted reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell, where the federal government has been forced to implement water restrictions.
In order to completely eliminate drought conditions across the American West several consecutive seasons of precipitation at 120% to 200% of normal would need to occur, ABC News reported. A 2022 study published in the journal Nature found that the past 22 years have been the driest period in the Southwest in the last 1,200 years.
As temperatures continue to rise thanks to humankind’s burning of fossil fuels, one effect, called the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship, is that there is 7% more moisture in the atmosphere per every degree Celsius of warming. That means extreme downpours like those in California in recent days can become more likely when conditions are right. By the same token, however, that relationship can also spur what UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain has called “flash droughts,” in which extremely dry conditions can arise quickly, even in a year of above-average precipitation.
“The Clausius-Clapeyron relationship also increases what is known as the vapor pressure deficit,” Swain told Yahoo News in November, which means that “the atmosphere’s potential to act as a giant sponge and extract more water out of the landscape has increased, even if the relative humidity has stayed the same. This Clausius-Clapeyron relationship is actually what drives the atmosphere’s capacity to dry out the landscape faster.”
For now, however, the precipitation picture is much brighter than it was even a week ago. Water levels in depleted state reservoirs have been rising, and California’s snow pack as of Wednesday measured 226% of normal. While the risks of flash flooding remain high, more rain and snow is in the forecast for the coming week.
Developers are trying to build hundreds of thousands of homes in Arizona. New report warns there isn’t enough water.
Brandon Loomis, USA TODAY NETWORK – January 12, 2023
PHOENIX — Amid a megadrought depleting groundwater across the West, a newly released report from Arizona signals difficulty ahead for developers wishing to build hundreds of thousands of homes in the desert west of Phoenix.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs released the modeling report Monday, and it shows that plans to add homes for more than 800,000 people west of the White Tank Mountains will require other water sources if they are to go forward. The report also signals the start of Hobbs’ effort to shore up groundwater management statewide.
“We must talk about the challenge of our time: Arizona’s decades-long drought, over-usage of the Colorado River, and the combined ramifications on our water supply, our forests, and our communities,” Hobbs said.
The West’s megadrought which worsened in 2021 made it the driest in at least 1,200 years, according to a study from the journal Nature Climate Change.
As a result of the expanding drought, western states are struggling with a water shortage due to lakes and rivers drying up in addition to communities pumping more groundwater and depleting aquifers at an alarming rate.
The groundwater crisis has impacted agriculture and rural communities as many are losing access to groundwater. Now, new homes will need new water sources, according to Arizona’s modeling report.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources had developed the model showing inadequate water for much of the development envisioned as far-west suburbs, but had not released it during then-Gov. Doug Ducey’s term.
In the case of development on the western edges of the urban area, the information Hobbs’ team released makes clear that developers who own desert expanses largely in Buckeye’s, the westernmost suburb in Phoenix, planning area will need more water to make their visions come true.
The report, called the Lower Hassayampa Sub-basin Groundwater Model, finds that projected growth would more than double groundwater use and put it out of balance by 15%. The state’s groundwater law requires developers in the Phoenix area to get state certificates of assured water supplies extending out 100 years before they can build.
Arizona Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke on Monday said he would not issue new certificates for the area unless developers find secure water sources in addition to the local groundwater.
Some of the Buckeye subdivisions in the area already have certifications for homes that Buschatzke estimated to number in the thousands, and that will combine to add 50,000 acre-feet of demand in a basin that already uses 123,000 acre-feet. The aquifer apparently can bear that amount, but not the 100,000 acre-foot demand that department analysts have attributed to hundreds of thousands more homes envisioned for the zone.
The Howard Hughes Corp. is a major player in the area, with 100,000 homes planned on 37,000 acres.
The question of where developers might get the water to support such vast housing tracts has previously presented a mystery, with some developers merely saying they were confident in their prospects. The report the state released this week provides an initial answer: They won’t be finding that water solely in the aquifer below the land. Instead, they will have to find new ways of importing and possibly recycling water if they want to build out the property.
“Some of the big plans that are out there for master-planned communities will need to find other water supplies or other solutions,” Buschatzke said.
For now, the groundwater deficiency could stall much building on the Valley’s far west side. But it also could foreshadow a push for big new infrastructure projects, such as an ocean desalination plant and pipeline proposal that a state water finance board has agreed to evaluate. That proposal, led by an Israeli company that has built or operated desalination plants around the world, would pipe water north from Mexico and through Buckeye on its way to the Central Arizona Project canal.
Other options include moving water from other areas, such as the Harquahala Valley to the west, or recycling wastewater, Buschatzke said. Those options could take years, though.
Buckeye officials sent a statement to The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, saying they need time to study the report but will work to ensure sustainable growth: “Buckeye is committed to responsible and sustainable growth and working to ensure we have adequate water for new businesses and residents, while protecting our existing customers.”
Researcher says finding water won’t be cheap or easy
Arizona State University water researcher Kathleen Ferris had called for the groundwater report’s release, and on Tuesday said she was delighted that Hobbs made it public.
Ferris, with the school’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, is a past director of the Department of Water Resources and helped craft the 1980 groundwater law that requires a 100-year supply for new development.
“It’s a hugely important step,” Ferris said. “As the governor said, It’s about transparency and knowledge. We should not be allowing this growth to occur when the water isn’t there.”
Ferris said she counts herself among skeptics who don’t believe a desalination plant will come online quickly. The Colorado River’s drought-reduced storage means it can’t provide excess water to soon fill the gap in groundwater supplies, either. It doesn’t mean Buckeye can’t grow, she said, but finding the water to do so won’t be cheap or easy.
She cautioned that other cities with stronger water portfolios are also on the lookout to snap up new water to secure their own futures.
Beyond Buckeye, Ferris said, Hobbs is right to push for better groundwater management statewide. The 1980 law applied mostly to urban areas, leaving vast areas of rural Arizona unregulated.
The whole state doesn’t necessarily need the same 100-year-supply rule, Ferris said, but groundwater users everywhere should be responsible for tracking and reporting what they use.
Any effort to address rural groundwater with statewide regulations is bound to face resistance in the Arizona Legislature, where lawmakers for several years have declined to extend state regulations.
Whatever happens, Ferris said, the state is due for an honest conversation about where and by how much it can grow. She hopes the governor’s announcement is the start of such a reckoning. “We just can’t have subdivisions approved (solely) on groundwater,” she said.
