Currently in Boston — October 28th, 2022
The sun finally shown across the area earlier today and now it's a chilly night ahead with temperatures falling back down into the 30s over inland areas with a light frost. It will be very chilly on Friday in comparison, with highs only in the lower to middle 50s. The air will be quite dry, allowing temperatures to fall to their coldest levels so far of the season Friday night and into early Saturday. Many areas will be in the upper 20s and lower 30s for a killing freeze away from the coastline. Sunshine will continue through the weekend with temperatures in the 50s on Saturday and approaching or exceeding 60°F for Sunday.
What you need to know, currently.
New research by the Southern Nevada Water Authority aims to pinpoint where water is lost from the Colorado River due to evaporation. Due to unrelenting drought across the Western United States the river’s output is down to about 20 percent of what it was in the 1900’s.
While the megadrought has definitely been intensified by climate change — one study suggests the Southwest hasn’t been this dry in 1,200 years — the water shortage is due in large part to a 100 year old deal called the Colorado River Compact, which allocated water to Western states using faulty numbers.
“The framers of the compact — and water leaders since then — have always either known or had access to the information that the allocation they were making were more than what the river could supply,” Anne Castle, a senior fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center at the University of Colorado Law School told AP News. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both of which are supplied by the Colorado River, reached record lows this year; sunken ships began to emerge from the waterline and a sixth body was recently found.
Should water levels continue to decline, the water sharing agreement will be threatened — with upper basin states likely cutting off the supply to the lower basin. Researchers from the Southern Nevada Water Authority believe that correctly identifying evaporation rates along the river, in order to make supply cuts among lower basin states, may help keep the river at a sustainable level and forestall more drastic action.