Background Articles

British Columbia’s March snowpack averaged just 79 percent of normal, up from 63 percent a year ago but still low enough to raise the province’s drought risk for spring and summer.

A Unesco report warns that unprecedented glacier melt driven by the climate crisis threatens the food and water supply for two billion people worldwide, with major impacts on irrigated agriculture and mountain communities.

What a virtually snowless winter and early spring means for flower beds, car and ski trail maintenance, recreators, snowplowers and pooper scoopers in Anchorage.

Scant snow is giving way to shaggy brown grass normally not seen until spring breakup, raising concerns now that conditions are increasingly ripe for a fast-moving fire at a time of year usually deep in the grip of winter.

Snow-dependent businesses in Anchorage are struggling as an unusually dry winter with record low snowfall forces snow removal and outdoor gear companies to scale back operations.

“It’s out of the ordinary but nothing that’s unprecedented,” according to Arctic Valley Ski Area general manager John Robinson-Wilson.

Research from the University of New Brunswick indicates that balsam fir trees are at risk due to climate change, with rising temperatures and drought conditions being key concerns.

A new study found that the drying Great Salt Lake in Utah is now a major source of the gas emissions that are causing the climate to warm.

Agrigento, a tourist destination in Sicily, is facing severe water shortages, leading to rationing and the turning away of tourists, impacting the local economy reliant on tourism and agriculture.

Low water levels on the Mackenzie River are causing cargo shipments to use a different route to access northern communities, beginning in the Arctic Ocean. 

Due to a mild winter and warmer year, this wildfire season is looking to be worse, not better, than the last

Washington State declares a statewide drought emergency due to significantly low snowpack levels, with expectations of less than 75% of the normal water supply.

Alberta's water allocation data reveals regional disparities in usage and availability, with agriculture dominating in the south and oil and gas in the north, amidst concerns of overuse and drought.

The extreme drought sweeping across Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is already impacting hundreds of thousands of people and killing local wildlife.

More than 80 per cent of B.C.'s water basins are experiencing level 4 or 5 drought conditions, with salmon in many parts of the province struggling to make it to their spawning grounds.

Northern Europe is experiencing an unusual heat wave and drought, making the region more vulnerable to forest fires, with firefighters battling wildfires in Portugal, Spain, Croatia, and southern France, and temperatures expected to hit 86 degrees Fahrenheit in Finland, rare for a country straddling the Arctic Circle.

Researchers found the global decline in water storage was equivalent to 17 Lake Meads — the largest reservoir in the U.S.

“This is the first time that we’ve sent a crew to Canada in May,” said Lily Coyle with the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The region of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, is in its worst drought since measurements began. The sheep reservoir supplies water to the city of Barcelona.

Hotter weather and less rain drove the three-year drought.