Latest news with #PacificCoast
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Big Sur's Remoteness Is a Selling Point. Now It's Driving Longtime Owners Away.
When Brigga Mosca, 70, and Reed Cripe, 82, moved from Los Angeles to Big Sur, Calif., in 1983, they camped out in a two-person tent on a 5-acre piece of land they bought for around $70,000. They took their time designing and creating a custom home with lots of glass for viewing the stunningly beautiful and dramatic landscape of mountains and sea. Now the couple is selling the home for $3 million. The impetus is that their son, who lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., is expecting their first grandchild. Another factor: they are getting too old to live in such a rugged place, as much as they treasure it there, said Mosca.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Climate
- Bloomberg
As Hurricane Season Picks Up, Key Forecasting Tool Access Set to End
By and Brian K Sullivan Save A week ago, US National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasters accurately predicted Hurricane Erick would explode in intensity as it hit Mexico's Pacific coastline. Now, key tools that helped inform that outlook will go away by the end of this month, and it's unclear if a replacement will be available as Atlantic moves deeper into what's expected to be an unusually active hurricane season. The US Navy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will no longer accept and distribute readings from the long-running Defense Meteorological Satellite Program after June 30, according to a service notice.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
The numbers of gray whales migrating along the California coast continue to plummet
The number of gray whales migrating along the California coast has plummeted again this year, dropping to levels not seen since the 1970s, according to federal officials. There are now likely fewer than 13,000 gray whales migrating along the North American Pacific coast — fewer than half the population's 27,000 peak in 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Although a single cause for the population shrinkage has not been determined, scientists believe it is likely the result of a changing climate and its impact on the animals' Arctic and subarctic food supply. This year, scientists in Mexico reported ominous indicators as they observed gray whales wintering in the shallow, warm, protected lagoons of the Baja California Peninsula. They said that very few calves had been born, and that many adult whales were dying. The pattern has since continued, with U.S. researchers saying they observed only 85 calves migrating north to the whales' Arctic feeding grounds. That's the lowest number of calves counted since researchers began keeping records in 1994. In addition, 47 whales have died along the U.S. Pacific coast this year. Although this number is smaller than the 122 that perished in 2019, the population is now much smaller than it was at that time. Twenty of the whales that have died since March 30 expired in San Francisco Bay, according to the Sausalito, Calif.-based Marine Mammal Center. The bay historically was not visited by this cetacean species. Researchers aren't sure why gray whales began frequenting San Francisco Bay, but have suggested they may do it when they are looking for food. Gray whales tend to summer in Arctic waters, where they gorge themselves on tiny, mud-dwelling invertebrates such as worms and shrimp-like critters called amphipods. During typical years of food abundance, the whales would fill themselves up and fast as they migrated 10,000 miles south to their wintering grounds in the lagoons of the Baja peninsula. They wouldn't eat again until the following summer. But in recent years, observers along the coast and in the bay have seen gray whales exhibiting behaviors suggestive of foraging and feeding — an indication that they may be short on fuel. According to a news release this month by the NOAA, one of the most concerning aspects of these latest numbers is the continued population drop since 2019. While these whales have faced population shrinkages in the past, they tended to rebound after a few years. "The environment may now be changing at a pace or in ways that is testing the time-honored ability of the population to rapidly rebound while it adjusts to a new ecological regime,' NOAA biologist David Weller said in the release. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
A hot summer will push your AC bill towards $200 a month
US households are warned to expect higher electricity bills this summer due to hotter-than-normal temperatures and rising natural gas prices. The average monthly electricity bill for June, July, and August is projected to be $186, a 4 percent increase from last year, primarily driven by a 37 percent jump in natural gas prices. New England residents will face the steepest increase, with bills rising 6.7 percent to around $200, while the Pacific Coast anticipates a slight decrease. Natural gas, increasingly vital for summer power generation to meet air conditioning demand, is seeing rising futures prices, with analysts forecasting continued increases above $4 by August. Surging demand from liquefied natural gas exports and utilities is straining gas supply, leading to price volatility despite recent inventory replenishment.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Feeling the heat: Your AC is going to push summer electricity bills to an average of $186 a month
Your electricity bill will make you sweat this summer as forecasts call for hotter-than-normal temperatures and soaring natural gas prices. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average US household will pay about $186 per month for electricity during June, July, and August, up 4 percent from last year and nearly 26 percent higher than four years ago. The main driver of the increase is a 37 percent jump in natural gas prices compared to the same time last year. New England residents will bear the brunt of the rise, with monthly electricity bills expected to jump 6.7 percent to around $200. The region's limited gas pipeline infrastructure continues to make it one of the most expensive places in the country for energy. Electricity costs on the Pacific Coast, however, are expected to fall slightly, down 1 percent from last summer to an average of $176 per month. Natural gas, long used mainly for winter heating, has become a cornerstone of summer power generation. As air conditioners work overtime during hotter summers, utilities are increasingly turning to gas-fired power plants to meet demand. Last summer, one of the hottest on record, saw record levels of gas burned for electricity, with power plants accounting for 41 percent of the nation's gas consumption, up from 40 percent the year before. As electricity demand peaks during heatwaves, utilities also rely more heavily on 'peaker' plants, which are less efficient, part-time power stations that further increase gas consumption and drive up prices. Natural gas futures ended last week at $3.784 per million British thermal units, a 9.8 percent weekly increase. Analysts expect the rally to continue. Energy trading firm EBW Analytics predicts prices will top $4 by August, when demand typically peaks. Morgan Stanley is even more confident, forecasting prices above $5 in the second half of the year. 'Supply is not on track to keep pace with demand growth,' Morgan Stanley analysts warned in a client note last week, the Wall Street Journal reports. Much of the pressure comes from surging demand for liquefied natural gas exports. A new LNG terminal in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, has begun operations ahead of schedule and is consuming more gas than anticipated. That's raising concerns about competition for limited pipeline capacity in the Southeast, where power plants are also ramping up for summer. 'This is putting stress on gas supply in the Southeast and driving significant price volatility in those markets,' Oren Pilant of East Daley Analytics told WSJ. The recent spike in prices comes after a two-year glut had depressed the gas market. A warm winter left stockpiles brimming last year, prompting producers to scale back output. But strong demand from both LNG exporters and utilities, combined with a colder winter and resumed drilling, helped erase the surplus. In March, gas futures hit their highest levels since 2022. Consumers saw some temporary relief this spring as mild temperatures allowed stockpiles to be replenished. The EIA reported last week the seventh straight large increase in gas inventories since late April, putting reserves 4.7 percent above the five-year average.
