climate

More signs that California is rebounding after five years of drought were evident on Echo Summit Thursday morning as the snowpack measured at 183 percent of average. This snow water equivalent (SWE) reading by the team from the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program was 46.1 inches.

The readings represent 183 percent of the long-term average at the Phillips measuring station near Sierra-at-Tahoe. Statewide, the electronic readings from 95 sites in the Sierra showed the snowpack at 164 percent of average, or 45.8 inches. Average for all of the Sierra Nevada is 27.9 inches

The South Lake Tahoe Democrats will meet monthly at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course beginning March 16 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The meetings will be held on the 3rd Thursday of each month, and Democrats and progressives are encouraged to attend.

Items on the March 16 agenda include:

- Reports from subcommittees on local immigration issues, health care, candidate recruitment and more

A packed house at MontBleu Resort on Saturday night was on hand to see Blue Angel Cafe owner, and Lake Tahoe Community College Board Trustee Jeff Cowen win the mirror ball trophy for the 5th annual Tahoe Arts Project's Dancing with the Tahoe Stars.

Cowen, and his professional partner Rhonda Keen performed a Bollywood number that brought down the house.

The annual television meteorologist's conference, Operation Sierra Storm (OSS), couldn't have happened at a better time to bring the national spotlight to early January's storms fondly nicknamed Snowmageddon and Januburied.

Jim Cantore and Paul Goodloe, leading correspondents at The Weather Channel, both broadcast live from Heavenly Mountain Resort and showcased South Lake Tahoe’s powder-filled ski conditions for two days, eight hours each day during the historic snowfall January 10-13, 2017.

While the top women’s alpine ski racers in the world prepare to descend on Squaw Valley March 10-11 for the Audi FIS Women’s World Cup Giant Slalom and Slalom races, another group of seasoned competitors will also be setting their sights on the California resort with the addition of the Toyota ProAm Ski Challenge to the weekend’s festivities.

As an estimated 200,000 people will join the Women's March on Washington Saturday, January 21, and hundreds of thousands of others march in their own towns across the country. Not to be left out, South Lake Tahoe will be having their own march to highlight issues important to the community, an event that organizers hope will attract a few hundred supporters.

On Dec. 11, 2014, a freight train of a storm steamed through much of California, deluging the San Francisco Bay Area with three inches of rain in just one hour. The storm was fueled by what meteorologists refer to as the “Pineapple Express” — an atmospheric river of moisture that is whipped up over the Pacific’s tropical waters and swept north with the jet stream.

Four years ago this month, TRPA approved the 2012 Regional Plan. The landmark plan charts a course to restore Lake Tahoe’s environment and revitalize our communities and it was forged through Herculean work by California, Nevada, local governments, the public, and dozens of other partners.

Many Tahoe Basin stakeholders once questioned if we could work together, but the Regional Plan ushered in an era of collaboration. Today, the answer is how can we work together more efficiently. By building and strengthening partnerships we have made remarkable progress. This year was no different.

Patagonia saw an astounding $10 million in Black Friday sales ― five times its own expectations ― and, as promised, will donate every cent toward helping save the environment.

The high-end outdoor apparel and gear retailer announced the record-breaking haul Monday, saying the “enormous love” its customers showed to the planet will benefit hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations around the world.

It is an exciting time to live on the South Shore – during a critical point in our region’s evolution and potential. It is time to set our course: moving away from bickering and blaming, exclusionary special interests and single-industry dominance to consensus-building and proactively choosing progress. Whether we live in Nevada or California, everyone benefits from uniting towards a sustainable vision for the South Shore.

The graphics and news released this week for the seasonal drought outlook for the Sierra Nevada and the rest of the west look rather grim for those wanting a big winter and extra water to replenish lakes, reservoirs and rivers.

According to the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), the drought ends for some parts of Northern California, but mild temperatures and below average precipitation will cause the drought to continue.

The South Lake Tahoe chapter of the Citizen's Climate Lobby recently asked all ten of the candidates their views on climate change, green buildings and our carbon footprint and how they can make a change if elected.

The Citizen's Climate Lobby is an organization focused on national policies to address climate change, and the South Lake Tahoe chapter is one of 354 in the United States and abroad.

Patricia Sussman of the local chapter said just five of the candidates responded to their questions.

I am writing this letter in support of Nick Exline's candidacy for the STPUD Board. I have known Nick for several years now and agree with him that renewable energy is our future! He is passionate about, not only how climate change is affecting us, but also what we can do to help solve some of these concerns.

At the Lake Tahoe Summit last month, we saw the power of what we can accomplish when we work together. Progress over the last two decades was showcased when President Obama made his first-ever visit to Tahoe and said conservation and restoration efforts like ours are more important than ever as the nation works to adapt to a changing climate and create a more resilient environment.

Protecting Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada is the job of many stakeholders. Its not just a local job, not just a California job, not just a Nevada job, not just a national job, and as witnessed through President Obama's visit to the Lake Tahoe Summit Wednesday, it can only be successful through partnerships of all of those entities along with agencies, local and private investment.

On Tuesday, August 29, the day before the Summit, California Senator Diane Feinstein hosted a lunch for local officials, agencies and federal counterparts, described as the "Lake Tahoe Stakeholders Luncheon".

With President Barack Obama visiting Lake Tahoe for a landmark 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit this month, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has published a special summit edition of Tahoe in Depth.

This special edition of the award-winning newspaper tells the story of 20 years of summits at Lake Tahoe—from the organization and importance of the first-ever summit and the successful work it sparked, to major issues such as climate change that will confront the Tahoe Region in the decades to come.

Lake Tahoe was at a crossroads in 1997. The lake’s famous water clarity, once measuring 100 feet, was declining year after year because of stormwater pollution from roads and developed areas and erosion from streams damaged by logging and cattle grazing.

Tickets to the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit quickly sold out on Monday once the White House announced President Obama would attend the event on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.

The national spotlight will be on South Lake Tahoe, giving local agencies the opportunity to show the local efforts on keeping Tahoe Blue have worked by highlighting the progress that has been made to combat pollution, promote restoration, tackle invasive species and protect Lake Tahoe's shoreline.

Lake Tahoe experienced a year like no other in 2015, according to scientists from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center in its annual Tahoe: State of the Lake Report, released this week.

Lake Tahoe is experienced warming water, a 4.8 foot drop in clarity, increased algae and a lowering water level.

Thanks to global climate change, Lake Tahoe is warming faster than ever according to the report which covers results from tests conducted on the lake in 2015 concerning water temperature, clarity, invasive species and more.

The number of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada are now at historic levels and have fueled the risk of catastrohpic wildfires according to the U.S. Forest Service.

They announced Wednesday that they have identified an additional 26 million dead trees in California since October 2015, bringing the total to at least 66 million dead trees in the state. The most recent additions are located in six counties across 760,000 acres in the Southern Nevada region.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and its partners have started work on the Shoreline Plan, a collaborative planning process to enhance recreation and protect Lake Tahoe’s 72 miles of shoreline.

The aim is to strike a balance between recreational access, the many uses along Tahoe’s shores, and environmental protection. An inclusive, open public process will bring in as many voices and viewpoints as possible to represent a wide range of stakeholders in developing new policy and code over the next two years.

To keep Tahoe cherished and known for its beauty, locals try in their best efforts to “keep Tahoe blue.” Sadly, negative effects in our ecosystems come from humans which could damage the clarity of the lake and the air quality. Bad air quality comes from numerous sources, such as car emissions, uncontained fires, and contributors to toxic runoff into the forest; these sources of pollution must be stopped.

In a representative democracy, the system the United States supposedly has, the policy making is controlled by the representatives elected by the people. The idea behind representative democracy is that people will elect representatives that will serve their best interest. However, in the United States the funding for election campaigns is provided by large corporations, banks, and a handful of wealthy individuals that results in the election of representatives who serve the best interests of the large corporations, banks, and wealthy individuals.

Six meadows in the southern portion of the Lake Tahoe Basin will be restored using a combination of tree removal, prescribed fire, stream channel repair, planting vegetation and rerouting trails starting in Spring 2017.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) made the announcement today of what is being called the Restoration of Fire Adapted Ecosystems Project.