A new study shows how seasonal changes in large-scale water cycles in California influence small-scale quake activity. It confirms that the annual hydrological loading cycle modulates microseismicity in California. The results of the study reveal how snow, rain,…
Raging rivers caused by record snowmelt claimed lives of at least 21 people across the America's West so far this season, forcing officials to close sections of rivers popular with swimmers, rafters and fishing enthusiasts. In Utah and Wyoming, some rivers…
What is becoming one the West's wettest years on record has stretched winter season for most California and Nevada ski resorts well into spring and, with 2.4 m (8 feet) of snow still on most of the mountains, some resorts now say they will stay open during the…
On the night of May 20, 2017, more than a million tons of rocks and dirt spilled over California's iconic Highway 1. The slide was so large it can be seen from space. The slide covered roughly 530 m (0.3 miles) of the scenic route in 10 to 12 m (35 to 40 feet)…
California has spectacularly emerged from one of its driest periods on record and ended its five-year drought by enduring one of its wettest periods on record. Its reservoirs, lakes, and mountainsides are now brimming with water and snow, though scientists caution…
An unusually strong spring storm will move into California and spread across the rest of the western states through the weekend as the region enters a period of unsettled weather with a couple of strong cyclones. Heavy rains are expected and localized flash flooding…
In a recent study, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that the persistent high-pressure ridge off the west coast of North America that blocked storms from coming onshore during the winters of 2013-14 and 2014-15 was associated…
In a new study, USGS geologist Dr. Kate Scharer and her team excavated trenches across the San Andreas Fault – near Frazier Mountain in northeastern Kern County – to investigate the timing of sand, mud, and gravel deposits that were episodically ripped…
Some 14 000 residents of San Jose, a large city in California's Bay Area, are under mandatory evacuation orders with another 36 000 in the recommended evacuation area after Coyote Creek, Santa Clara County's longest, overflowed in what officials are calling…
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Northern California Monday, February 20, 2017, as another heavy rainmaker slammed the region. Many rivers in Northern California are at or above flood stage after a series of powerful storms hit the state in recent…
