Climate Impacts Group

Drought emergency hits Pierce County, much of Western Washington

The emergency declaration includes a large part of the Puget Sound area and central Cascade mountains, impacting 22 watersheds, said Casey Sixkiller, director of the DOE. The declaration allows the state to use relief tools, such as expediting emergency water right transfers and providing emergency drought grants to public entities — there is $4.5 million available this year to support those actions, he said. Deputy State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco is quoted. 

WA’s drought emergency expands

Seattle, Tacoma and Everett are not included in the drought emergency. Instead, they’re covered under a less severe category of drought advisory. Even so, Seattle Public Utilities still anticipates it will have to find new sources of water for the growing customer base in an increasingly dry area over the coming decades. Deputy State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco is quoted. 

Snow melting fast in WA, American West

On the heels of a winter that left Washington’s mountaintops relatively bare, warm spring temperatures are melting off remaining snowpack far earlier than normal, heightening drought concerns across the state.

The phenomenon is plaguing the entire American West. Southwestern states have been hit hardest, with early snowmelts breaking records in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, federal data shows. 

NOAA terminates funding for Climate Impacts Group research collaborative

UW’s Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative (NCRC) received notice May 5 that they were to lose their federal funding and ordered them to cease all work, effective immediately. The acting director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Grants Management Division sent this notice via letter to NCRC. 

Here’s what we stand to lose from NOAA funding cuts

NCRC projects included working with Tribes along the coasts of Oregon and Washington to prepare for climate-related coastal hazards. NCRC also worked with community members in rural Umatilla and Morrow counties in northeast Oregon, to address water scarcity and contaminated drinking water issues.

Editorial: Loss of research funds threat to climate resilience

Trump Cuts Funding to Two Centers That Help Prepare Communities for Extreme Climate

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Adaptation Center in the Pacific Northwest worked with rural communities the Trump administration has repeatedly said it would support. The Climate Impacts Group was mentioned. Occasionally we publish links that are behind a paywall. To request the full article, please email .

As US doubles down on fossil fuels, communities will have to adapt to the consequences − yet climate adaptation funding is on the chopping block

Researchers and directors of regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers, including Meade Krosby with the NW CASC and Climate Impacts Group, pen an article for The Conversation asking: Is the nation prepared to adapt to the consequences?

Nearly all of Seattle is on sinking ground

Seattle is sinking millimeter by millimeter, and new research shows it’s more widespread — and riskier — than once suspected. Data from the UW’s Climate Impacts Group is referenced. 

Trump administration pulls plug on UW climate research partnership

The Trump administration has pulled funding for a climate research program at the University of Washington that helps communities in the Northwest adapt to extreme heat, drought and other threats from climate change. Occasionally we publish links that are behind a paywall. To request the full article, please email .