Big Pivots: Early Flowers Again This Year. That’s Good, Right?

Big Pivots: Early flowers again this year. That’s good_ right?

We’re on track to a 9 degree rise in average temperatures. That has profound implications for the Colorado River. Spring came early this year on the mountain slopes near Crested Butte. David Inouye has monitored the blooming of wildflowers there during the last 55 years. This was not a record year, he reported in May, but it was remarkably different from just a few decades ago. “Thirty years ago, flowering didn’t start until the first week of Ju…

Big Pivots: Early flowers again this year. That’s good, right?

We’re on track to a 9 degree rise in average temperatures. That has profound implications for the Colorado River. Spring came early this year on the mountain slopes near Crested Butte. David Inouye has monitored the blooming of wildflowers there during the last 55 years. This was not a record year, he reported in May, but it was remarkably different from just a few decades ago. “Thirty years ago, flowering didn’t start until the first week of Ju…

A Lake Mead’s worth of water has vanished from the ground. Could Las Vegas suffer?

An Arizona State University study has placed a microscope on groundwater pumping in the Colorado River Basin.

A Lake Mead's worth of water has vanished from the ground. Could Las Vegas suffer?

The water beneath our feet that we use to bathe, drink and water crops is vanishing faster than ever in the Colorado River Basin, according to a new study. From Arizona State University researchers, the study of satellite images has found that an...