West Coast whale population recovers 5 years after hundreds washed up ashore
Federal researchers indicate the gray whale population along the West Coast is showing signs of recovery five years after hundreds washed up dead on the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington state and Alaska, as well as Canada and Mexico.
With 'big one' coming, quake alert system launches in Oregon
FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2019, file photo, a mobile phone customer looks at an earthquake warning application on an iPhone in Los Angeles. An earthquake early warning system operated by the U.S. Geological Survey has been activated in Oregon on the 10th anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)SALEM, Ore. โ People in Oregon will be better prepared for earthquakes โ particularly important in the Pacific Northwest because experts say โthe big one" is coming โ as an early warning system launched Thursday, the 10th anniversary of a devastating quake and tsunami in Japan. California already has the system, while Washington state will join in May to complete coverage of the West Coast. โWhen a Cascadia event happens, the critical seconds of notice ShakeAlert warnings provide will save lives and reduce damage to important lifeline systems,โ Oregon Gov.
Atmospheric river storm drenches California, snow piles high
An atmospheric river storm pumped drenching rains into the heart of California on Thursday as blizzard conditions buried the Sierra Nevada in snow. (Andy Richard/Caltrans District 9 via AP)LOS ANGELES โ Evacuations were ordered Thursday in wildfire burn areas prone to mudslides as an atmospheric river storm pumped drenching rain into Southern California while blizzard conditions buried the Sierra Nevada in snow. The system then dropped into Southern California, bringing threats of flash floods and debris flows to areas scorched by recent blazes. AdIn the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California, a horse, Staredown, died during training Thursday at Golden Gate Fields in Albany. The atmospheric river is part of a major change in weather for California, which had significant drought conditions for months.
Multiple FEET of snow to fall on parts of the Sierra Nevada this week
A strong and slow-moving storm system off the West Coast is in prime position to send continuous moisture up the spine of the Sierra Nevada this week. Weather pattern leading up to feet of snow in the Sierra NevadaLocal National Weather Service offices are warning of major travel delays, whiteout conditions and even the possibility of avalanches. A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the foothills/mountains of interior NorCal Tue PM - Fri AM. Snowfall will be possible down into the N Sac Valley late Tue - Wed AM w/cities of Redding & Red Bluff receiving multiple inches of snow. Travel is HIGHLY discouraged #cawx pic.twitter.com/T4SLC20mVc โ NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) January 26, 2021In addition to the obvious threats that multiple feet of snow brings, this also comes in addition to the ongoing drought out west.
Another Lifetime movie is being filmed in Roanoke!
ROANOKE, Va. โ Thereโs some more Hollywood magic happening in the Star City. A West Coast production company is shooting another made-for-TV movie in Roanoke, their second production in just the last few months. This one is tentatively titled โSecrets on Sorority Rowโ and is slated to air on Lifetime. Director Dylan Vox is a 2000 graduate of Roanoke Countyโs Cave Spring High School and said after he shot his last movie here earlier this year, โThe Weekend,โ he knew he wanted to come back. โThe Weekendโ is expected to air on Lifetime in March and โSecrets on Sorority Rowโ should be finished sometime this summer.
EXPLAINER: Widespread Election Day unrest not materializing
WASHINGTON โ Election Day ushered in skirmishes near the White House and relatively minor demonstrations in California and elsewhere on the West Coast, but none of the widespread unrest that some had feared in the hours after the polls began closing around the country. In Washington, D.C., police created a wide security perimeter around the White House, where President Donald Trump watched the election returns and hosted guests. Mostly peaceful protests overtook streets near the White House earlier this year following the killing of George Floyd, who was Black, by a Minneapolis police officer. Hundreds of people gathered in a generally festive mood Tuesday night on a street near the White House that was recently renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza by the city's mayor, who is Black. Seattle police advised residents in a tweet about a pair of marches moving through separate neighborhoods.
Dodgers' Betts unseats Yankees' Judge for MLB's top jersey
NEW YORK โ Dodgers star Mookie Betts supplanted Yankees slugger Aaron Judge on Friday for baseball's top-selling jersey in his first year on the West Coast. 50 is the first Dodgers uniform to top the list since MLB began releasing sales rankings in 2010. Betts is in the running to become the second player, after Frank Robinson, to win MVPs in both leagues. Judge slotted second ahead of Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper, who is in the second season of a $330 million, 13-year deal. The Chicago Cubs (Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant) and Yankees (Judge, Cole, Giancarlo Stanton) were the only other teams with three players in the top 20.
Wildfires taint West Coast vineyards with taste of smoke
Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has tainted grapes in some of the nations most celebrated wine regions. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)TURNER, Ore. โ Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has tainted grapes in some of the nation's most celebrated wine regions with an ashy flavor that could spell disaster for the 2020 vintage. Day after day, some West Coast cities endured some of the worst air quality in the world. No one knows the extent of the smoke damage to the crop, and growers are trying to assess the severity. In 2018, a California company abruptly canceled contracts to buy grapes worth millions of dollars from southern Oregon vineyards, claiming fears they were tainted by wildfire smoke.
Western wildfire smoke causes East Coast haze, vivid sunsets
The smoke from dozens of wildfires in the western United States is stretching clear across the country and even pushing into Mexico, Canada and Europe. While the dangerous plumes are forcing people inside along the West Coast, residents thousands of miles away in the East are seeing unusually hazy skies and remarkable sunsets. (Elizabeth Laird via AP)The smoke from dozens of wildfires in the western United States is stretching clear across the country โ and even pushing into Mexico, Canada and Europe. While the dangerous plumes are forcing people inside along the West Coast, residents thousands of miles away in the East are seeing unusually hazy skies and remarkable sunsets. But Solum said there's always a chance for more smoke and haze to shift around.
Trump, Biden facing off on wildfires, climate change
โ President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden are focusing the presidential campaign on the wildfire-scorched West Coast, with Trump meeting fire officials in California on Monday while Biden declares the fires underscore an urgent need to address climate change. Trump has repeatedly discounted the impact of climate change, walked away from a major international climate agreement and proudly rolled back environmental regulations. Amid that disapproval from the left, Biden over the weekend offered his most pointed criticism connecting Trumpโs climate change denialism to the fires. Trump often casts doubt on climate change. In 2015, he stated bluntly: โIโm not a believer in global warming, Iโm not a believer in man-made global warming.โ After the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report concluded climate change would hurt the economy, Trump said he read it but didnโt believe it.
Fires raise fight over climate change before Trump's visit
Jay Inslee on Sunday called climate change โa blowtorch over our states in the West." โThe debate is over around climate change. โThis is truly the bellwether for climate change on the West Coast," she said Sunday on CBSโ โFace the Nation." โAnd this is a wake-up call for all of us that we have got to do everything in our power to tackle climate change." โTalk to a firefighter, if you think that climate change isnโt real," the Democratic mayor said on CNN's โState of the Union."
Itโs the peak of hurricane season, and it looks like it...
ROANOKE, Va. โ Historically speaking, Sept. 10 is the peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic basin. The ocean water is warmer, and this is when more storms typically form off the West Coast of Africa. As storms continue to develop off the West Coast of Africa, however, we will need to keep an eye out. Tropical tracker by next MondayWeโre already on record pace this hurricane season, with only four storm names left on the list. Where we are on the list of storm names as of 9/10/2020Once we run out of names, which looks likely, we shift toward the Greek alphabet.
Weather technology shows the severity of wildfires on the West Coast
ROANOKE, Va. โ 2020 has been the worst year for wildfires in California, with more than 2 million acres burned this year alone. Record temperatures, bone dry air and high wind gusts continue to make the firefight extremely difficult along the West Coast. Nowadays, weather technology is advanced enough to showcase the severity of these fires. The black dots that you see in the picture below are where the surface is hottest, or where wildfires are currently burning. GOES 16 infrared satellite imagery of the wildfires on the west coast - College of Dupage (College of Dupage)RadarWe show radar most often when tracking any form of precipitation.
Powerful storm produces snow, hurricane-force gusts; wildfires rage out west
For parts of the Rockies and Intermountain West, a powerful storm system flipped that upside down. A lone bison stands as a storm packing high winds and snow sweeps through the intermountain West Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Evergreen, Colo. Estimated snow totals reported by various National Weather Service officesWe received this photo of snow near Lander, Wyoming from Keith Trouwborst. Damaging Wind GustsThe wind around this bowling ball of a storm system was powerful at times as well, even for those who werent getting snow. As the wind screamed down the mountains toward Utah, wind gusts ranged from 50-100 mph.
Income growth greatest in tech hubs over past 5 years
Other congressional districts that had the highest household income growth were in or around Houston; Pittsburgh; Provo, Utah; parts of South Florida and the wealthy retirement haven of Sarasota, Florida. Most of the income growth in these areas came from wages, said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities. Household income grew more in Democratic-leaning districts than Republican ones, according to an Associated Press analysis of the data by congressional districts. Household income grew by an average of more than $12,000 in Democratic-leaning congressional districts, compared to more than $9,000 in Republican-leaning districts. In other areas, income growth was significantly more modest.
Impossible Burger arrives in East Coast grocery stores
NEW YORK - Good news for vegetarians on the East Coast of the United States -- the Impossible Burger is arriving at your grocery stores. The Impossible Burger made a splash last week when it debuted in California -- in its first full weekend sale in Gelson's supermarkets, Impossible Burger outsold ground beef from cows, in terms of both revenue and the number of pounds sold, said Impossible Foods. "The Impossible Burger generated more excitement than any other single product we've seen in more than a half-century of operations," said Gelson's CEO Rob McDougall in the press release. The Impossible Burger debuted three years ago at Momofuku Nishi, a high-end restaurant in New York City owned by chef David Chang. Now, the Impossible Burger is served at over 17,000 restaurants, including Burger King and White Castle.