In California’s boom-and-bust climate, Death Valley has offered some of the strangest scenes over the past few years.Some of the area’s perennial creosote bushes died back during a severe drought that hampered the region through 2022. Then torrential downpours — from the remnants of Hurricane Hilary and subsequent storms — revived annual wildflowers from seed over the last year.During the winter, extreme rainfall resurrected an ancient lake that is now disappearing once again.Together, these extremes have created bizarre juxtapositions in the famed desert.“I could take you to a field of dead creosote bushes with nice wildflowers springing up in between,” said Patrick Donnelly, a conservation biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “For a plant, it’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland — everything is dead — then spring comes and flowers are sprouting between the corpses.”People wade through water at Badwater Basin on Feb. 22, 2024, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (John Locher / AP file)Climate scientists have long predicted that global warming would both aggravate droughts in California’s inland deserts and also intensify bouts of rainfall. Death Valley locals say they’re watching that dynamic play out in real time. How desert plants, animals and local economies adapt to the changes in an environment that’s already one of the most extreme on Earth will determine the future of this symbol of resilience.“It’s interesting to have a front row seat,” Donnelly said. “This is the signature of climate chaos.”A 1-in-1,000-year storm — twiceSusan Sorrells, who owns the ecotourism town of Shoshone, which is near Death Valley National Park, said the area’s weather is “always a roller coaster ride.”But that has been especially true over the last couple …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnIn California’s boom-and-bust climate, Death Valley has offered some of the strangest scenes over the past few years.Some of the area’s perennial creosote bushes died back during a severe drought that hampered the region through 2022. Then torrential downpours — from the remnants of Hurricane Hilary and subsequent storms — revived annual wildflowers from seed over the last year.During the winter, extreme rainfall resurrected an ancient lake that is now disappearing once again.Together, these extremes have created bizarre juxtapositions in the famed desert.“I could take you to a field of dead creosote bushes with nice wildflowers springing up in between,” said Patrick Donnelly, a conservation biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “For a plant, it’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland — everything is dead — then spring comes and flowers are sprouting between the corpses.”People wade through water at Badwater Basin on Feb. 22, 2024, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (John Locher / AP file)Climate scientists have long predicted that global warming would both aggravate droughts in California’s inland deserts and also intensify bouts of rainfall. Death Valley locals say they’re watching that dynamic play out in real time. How desert plants, animals and local economies adapt to the changes in an environment that’s already one of the most extreme on Earth will determine the future of this symbol of resilience.“It’s interesting to have a front row seat,” Donnelly said. “This is the signature of climate chaos.”A 1-in-1,000-year storm — twiceSusan Sorrells, who owns the ecotourism town of Shoshone, which is near Death Valley National Park, said the area’s weather is “always a roller coaster ride.”But that has been especially true over the last couple …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
