Uncommon Knowledge
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A sunken part of a parking zone after a rain storm at Seacliff State Seaside in Aptos, California, on Sunday. Photograph: Nic Coury/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking President Biden to make an emergency declaration in response to a collection of lethal storms, because the Nationwide Climate Service warned the “most potent system” would arrive Monday.
The large image: The newest in a barrage of harmful atmospheric rivers that’ve triggered widespread energy outages since late final month started unleashing extra highly effective winds and heavy rains on California Sunday night time — prompting Sacramento County to concern evacuation orders for Wilton-area residents, with flooding “imminent.”
State of play: Greater than 424,000 Californians have been with out energy, over 2,900 others have been evacuated from their properties and 12 individuals had been confirmed killed within the storms, mentioned Nancy Ward, director of the governor’s Workplace of Emergency Companies at a briefing Sunday.
Risk degree: “On this climate sample, extra rain on saturated soils will result in appreciable flood impacts, together with fast water rises, mudslides and burn scar particles flows,” the NWS mentioned in an replace Sunday night.
Of observe: Newsom declared an emergency final week in response to an atmospheric river storm related to a bomb cyclone that introduced heavy rains and hurricane-force winds to California.
Between the traces: Local weather change is including much more moisture to atmospheric rivers, enabling them to dump increased rain and snow totals, per Axios local weather and power reporter Andrew Freedman.
Editor’s observe: This can be a breaking information story. Please test again for updates.
A new study from California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) has found that Lake Oroville is shrinking.
Water levels at the state’s second largest reservoir are in a much better place than they were two years ago, when severe drought gripped much of California. Two back-to-back wet winters, accompanied by atmospheric rivers, have supplemented the water levels at many California reservoirs and contributed greatly to their recovery, although the atmospheric rivers also caused flooding and mudslides.
Atmospheric rivers are a “long, narrow region in the atmosphere—like rivers in the sky—that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Despite Lake Oroville’s recovery, water officials recently discovered that its capacity was shrinking and that the lake had lost 3 percent of capacity since it was created in the 1960s.
“DWR utilized the latest terrain-mapping technology to determine if there have been any changes in the lake’s volume to optimize how the reservoir is operated and ensure accuracy in estimating California’s water supply availability,” a DWR webpage said.
“What resulted were highly detailed 3D topographic terrain models of the bottom of the lake, which DWR engineers used to calculate a new storage capacity of 3,424,753 acre-feet, approximately 3 percent less than previously estimated,” the webpage added.
The DWR attributed the loss to “weather swings and almost six decades of service.” Newsweek reached out to the DWR by email for comment.
Despite the loss, DWR officials said Lake Oroville remains the state’s second largest reservoir, behind only Lake Shasta.
“Having updated storage capacity data allows us to operate Lake Oroville in a more efficient manner,” said John Yarbrough, the DWR’s deputy director of the State Water Project.
“It ensures we are providing adequate flood storage protection during winter months and accurately accounts for the state’s water supply, which is especially important as we experience climate change-driven weather extremes,” he said.
During the winter months, water officials occasionally release water from the reservoir to provide flood mitigation for downstream communities, such as in February when atmospheric rivers brought a deluge of rain to the area. Once California enters its dry season, officials transition to retaining as much water as possible in the reservoir.
Lake Oroville’s water levels began rising last December and reached full capacity in May. The levels have been steadily declining over the past few weeks as California enters its dry season.
However, the lake is in a much better state than it was in 2022. As of Tuesday, Lake Oroville’s water levels were at 887 feet, only 12 feet below full pool of 900 feet. During the summer of 2022, the water levels were at only 750 feet.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Fossil fuel interests want the Supreme Court to review California’s authority to set stricter emissions standards for cars and trucks than the federal government.
A petition to be filed Tuesday asks the high court to overturn an April ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The judges unanimously ruled that industry groups and a coalition of Republican-led states had failed to show that a favorable ruling would fix the injuries they claimed from California’s waiver.
The petitioners to the Supreme Court include the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, Energy Marketers of America, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and a number of biofuel and agricultural organizations.
They argue that the D.C. Circuit — which found that the challengers lacked standing to bring their claim — failed to consider the substance of the case. The challengers ask the Supreme Court to review the merits and find that California’s waiver does not empower the state to regulate vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, impose electric vehicle mandates or limit consumer access to internal combustion engines.
Projected changes to California workers’ comp claims frequency and severity due to industry mix of employment are negligible through 2026, while employment in most industries fully recovered from the initial pandemic related changes by the end of 2022, a new report from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California shows.
WCIRB this week released an update to the Impact of Economic Changes on California Workers’ Compensation report.
The report shows that while employment in hospitality fully recovered in 2023, retail employment is expected to remain below 2019 levels until 2026. The report forecasts construction employment to grow moderately in 2024 and 2025 and slowly in 2026, similar to the overall growth.
Healthcare employment fell slightly in 2020, then rebounded in 2021. It is projected to grow modestly through 2026, according to WCRIB.
“Unemployment is forecast to increase slightly in 2024 and then decrease slightly, remaining at historically low levels,” the report shows. “WCIRB research has found that increases in unemployment are correlated with decreases in indemnity claim frequency. Given the current forecast of changes in the unemployment rate is small, there would also be a small impact on changes in indemnity claim frequency.”
Claim frequency rose substantially in 2021 due to the mix of employment by industry, an increase largely driven by the return of hospitality employment, but modest industry mix impacts on claim frequency and severity are projected to continue and offset each other, yielding negligible pure premium impacts through 2026, according to WCIRB.
Wages overall are forecast to increase strongly in 2024, then return to a lower increase in 2025 and 2026.
Topics
California
Workers’ Compensation
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