Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/663358
BySethBorenstein The Associated Press Thecoralontheseafloor around the Pacific island of Kiritimati looked like a boneyard in November — stark, white and lifeless. But there was still some hope. This month, color re- turned with fuzzy reds and browns, but that's not good news. Algae has overtaken the lifeless coral on what had been some of the most pristine coral reefs on the planet, said University of Victoria coral reef scientist Julia Baum after dozens of dives in the past week. Maybe 5 percent will sur- vive, she estimated. "What it really looks like is a ghost town," Baum said. "It's as if the buildings are standing but no one's home." Kiritimati is where El Niño, along with global warming, has done the most damage to corals in the past two years, experts said. While dramatic im- ages of unprecedented to- tal bleaching on Australia's Great Barrier Reef are stun- ning the world, thousands of miles to the east conditions are somehow even worse. "This El Niño has its most powerful grip right at this spot," said Georgia Tech cli- mate scientist Kim Cobb in a telephone interview from the island 2,000 miles south of Hawaii. About 36 percent of the world's coral reefs — 72 per- cent of the U.S. reefs — are in such warm water they are under official death watch, and that could rise to up to 60 percent of the world's coral by July, said Mark Ea- kin, the coral reef watch co- ordinator for the U.S. Na- tional Oceanic and Atmo- spheric Administration. Eakin said Kiritimati was the worst he's seen, with America Samoa a close sec- ond. "It is unprecedented," Baum said. "This is abso- lutely the most intense re- sponse, the most dramatic death of a coral reef from an El Niño event." The island has been on the highest level of alert for coral stress since June 2015. NOAA's Eakin wasn't part of the Baum-Cobb team, but whenhesawtheirphotos,he emailed Baum: "I was sim- ply aghast at the pictures. I expected the worst, but still wasn't prepared for those." He called it "gruesome." It's the heat that's kill- ing the coral. In Decem- ber, temperatures at Kiriti- mati peaked at 88.5 degrees (31.4 degrees Celsius) and have been about 5 to 7 de- grees warmer than normal. That's the kind of tempera- ture spike that can be the difference between life and death for coral, Eakin said. Water temperatures around the island are nearly a degree Fahrenheit warmer than the last big El Niño, in 1997-98, and the damage is far worse, likely an assist from man-made warming on top of the natural transi- tory warming from El Nino, Cobb said. Coral reefs are important for fishing; nearly half a bil- lion people rely on coral reef marine life for food, Eakin said. "Coral reefs cover only one-tenth of one percent of the sea floor but are home to 25 percent of all marine species," Eakin said in an in- terview. Baum has hope that something can survive be- cause of what she calls "lit- tle miracle corals," the small amount of one particular species that seems to be sur- viving so far. Perhaps over a couple decades it can repop- ulate this once bright reef, she said. In Australia, where "100 percent of the corals are snow white on some reefs," it is hard to imagine that Ki- ritimati is worse, said Terry Hughes, an Australian pro- fessor who heads the coun- try's National Coral Bleach- ing Task Force. One area to the north "is absolutely blitzed," he said. In the past, El Niño warmingofthePacificdidn't cause such mass bleaching events in Australia. But the effects of recent, major El Niños have coincided with water that's already warmer because of man-made cli- mate change, Hughes said. "Thelinkbetweenbleach- ing and global warming is incontrovertible," Hughes said. Coral can survive mild or short-termbleachingandre- cover, but if it goes too long or is too severe, they die from bleaching or disease, Eakin said. WEATHER ScientistsblameElNiño,warmingfor'gruesome'coraldeath KIERANCOX—UNIVERSITYOFVICTORIA Different species of coral are seen alive and colorful at the Pacific island of Kiritimati. Washington 64/43 New York 58/43 Miami 87/66 Atlanta 69/49 Detroit 44/27 Houston 82/52 Chicago 45/30 Minneapolis 45/29 Kansas City 66/35 El Paso 84/57 Denver 65/38 Billings 63/38 Los Angeles 73/58 San Francisco 69/57 Seattle 76/52 AIRQUALITYFORECAST Whatitmeans:0-50:Good; 51-100:Moderate; 101-150:Unhealthyforsensitivepeople; 151+:Unhealthyforall. Source: Airnow.gov City Today'sairquality City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W CALIFORNIA CITIES National and world forecast s-sunny,pc-partly cloudy,c-cloudy,sh-showers,t-thunderstorms,r-rain,sf-snow flurries,sn-snow,i-ice City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Summary National Extremes World Extremes North and South America Asia, Australia Africa CarsonCity Hawthorne Reno Herlong Lovelock Sacramento Yuba City Napa Ukiah Chico Corning Lakeview Alturas Susanville Redding Red Bluff Laytonville Fort Bragg Point Arena Eureka Redway Mount Shasta Yreka Crescent City Ashland Shown is today's weather. Temperatures are today's highs and tonight's lows. Shown are today's noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. ALMANAC Precipitation Temperatures ALLERGY REPORT Pollenlevels Source: National Allergy Bureau TODAY'S UV INDEX (The higher the number, the faster skin damage will occur.) Extreme Very high High Moderate Low SUN SETTINGS, MOON PHASES Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset Hoursofsunlight River Levels SacramentoRiver Flood 7a.m. 24-hr Stage yest. chg. Lake Levels Elevation Yesterday Storage (acre-feet) Percent Capacity Q: A: FRIDAY 72° 55° SATURDAY 66° 55° Mostly cloudy , a sho we r or two Not as warm SUNDAY 66° 54° Ra ther cloudy with a shower MONDAY 73° 53° Mostly cloudy with a shower TODAY 82° 55° Sun through high clouds and very warm. Mostly cloudy and mild tonight. High ....................................................................... 88° Low ........................................................................ 57° Normal high ......................................................... 68° Normal low ........................................................... 45° Record high ............................................. 95° in 1989 Record low .............................................. 29° in 1948 Humidity noon today ........................................ 33% 24 hours through 2 p.m. yesterday ................. 0.00" Month to date ................................................... 0.00" Normal month to date ..................................... 0.32" Season to date ................................................ 20.31" Normal season to date .................................. 20.96" Red Bluff through 2 p.m. yesterday Chico .................................................................. Good Napa ................................................................... Good Red Bluff .............................................. Not available Redding ............................................... Not available Yuba City ............................................. Not available Allergy, dust and dander today: Beneficial Grass ............. Moderate Mold .........................Low Trees ...................... High Weeds ................ Absent 6 Highest at 1 p.m. Today 6:43 a.m. 7:40 p.m. 7:04 a.m. 8:19 p.m. Friday 6:41 a.m. 7:41 p.m. 7:46 a.m. 9:32 p.m. 12 hr., 57 min. Apr7 New Apr13 First Full Apr21 Last Apr29 aboveBendBridge......................27 ...........2.40 ....... -0.20 atHamiltonCity.........................148 ......130.30 ....... -0.04 atOrdFerry................................114 ........97.90 ....... -0.06 atRedBluffDiversionDam.......253 ......238.70 .......none atTehamaBridge ......................213 ......201.40 .......none atVinaWoodsonBridge............183 ......167.50 ....... -0.10 BlackButte ....................458.75..............79,609 .....55.4% LakeOroville..................872.19.........3,117,257 .....83.4% LakeShasta .................1050.52.........4,077,546 .....89.6% LakeTrinity..................2287.33.........1,317,740 .....49.8% Whiskeytown...............1207.55............233,297 .....96.8% Weather Trivia ™ What was the most deadly flood of all time? In April 1887, flooding along the Yellow River in China killed over 900,000 Today Friday Anaheim 71/56/sh 68/56/sh Bakersfield 81/59/c 71/55/sh Chula Vista 71/57/sh 67/56/sh Crescent City 65/49/s 58/51/c Death Valley 89/64/c 79/60/sh Eureka 68/50/pc 61/52/c Fremont 73/55/pc 69/56/sh Fresno 83/60/c 73/58/sh Glendale 70/55/sh 66/55/sh Huntington Beach 67/57/sh 65/57/sh Irvine 69/56/sh 66/56/sh Lake Tahoe 65/40/pc 53/37/sh Long Beach 71/58/sh 67/58/sh Los Angeles 73/58/sh 69/59/sh Mammoth Mountain 68/38/pc 59/39/sh Modesto 82/58/pc 73/57/sh Monterey 68/53/pc 66/53/sh Moreno Valley 72/51/sh 65/49/sh Napa 71/54/pc 66/53/sh Needles 85/62/c 79/61/pc Oakland 69/57/pc 68/56/sh Oxnard 66/56/c 65/55/sh Redding 87/56/pc 74/55/c Riverside 71/51/sh 67/48/sh Sacramento 76/55/pc 70/55/sh San Bernardino 73/53/sh 67/51/sh San Diego 71/61/sh 68/61/sh San Francisco 69/57/pc 67/57/sh San Jose 74/55/pc 69/56/sh San Luis Obispo 68/54/c 66/54/sh Santa Ana 70/57/sh 66/57/sh Santa Barbara 66/53/c 66/55/sh Santa Clarita 70/51/sh 66/52/sh Stockton 81/54/pc 72/54/sh Ventura 65/54/c 64/56/sh Yosemite Valley 72/47/pc 58/43/sh Today Friday Albuquerque 76/50/pc 68/47/c Atlanta 69/49/pc 64/44/pc Baltimore 62/39/r 56/35/pc Boston 57/44/r 53/33/c Buffalo 43/27/c 36/22/sf Chicago 45/30/sn 45/25/sn Cincinnati 48/29/sh 49/28/c Dallas 86/56/pc 77/58/pc Denver 65/38/s 66/42/pc Detroit 44/27/sn 45/25/sn El Paso 84/57/c 75/54/pc Fargo 45/23/sf 37/16/s Honolulu 82/71/pc 84/71/sh Houston 82/52/pc 81/56/pc Indianapolis 48/30/sh 48/26/c Kansas City 66/35/pc 59/30/s Las Vegas 81/57/c 69/56/sh Louisville 56/36/sh 56/33/sh Miami 87/66/pc 84/65/pc Minneapolis 45/29/c 37/21/pc New Orleans 79/59/s 78/59/pc New York City 58/43/r 53/36/c Oklahoma City 81/44/s 73/48/pc Showers and thunderstorms will extend along much of the Atlantic Seaboard today. South to southeasterly winds will strengthen in the coastal Northeast to the point where trees can be downed and sporadic power outages can occur. Rain showers occurring in the colder air over the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians will transition to showers of snow, ice and rain around the Great Lakes and headwaters of the Mississippi River. An area of steady snow will develop in northern Minnesota and is forecast to travel southeastward into the weekend. High ............................ 99° in Thermal, CA Low ...................... -1° in Clayton Lake, ME High ............................ 110° in Diffa, Niger Low ... -42° in Summit Station, Greenland Bogota 68/52/t 68/51/t Buenos Aires 72/58/pc 69/56/r Caracas 87/78/pc 88/77/pc Ensenada 70/55/c 68/52/pc Mexico City 83/51/pc 81/55/pc Montreal 50/34/r 42/24/sf Rio de Janeiro 91/77/s 91/75/s Tijuana 71/56/c 68/53/pc Toronto 44/24/c 36/17/sf Vancouver 65/47/s 65/46/pc Orlando 83/58/pc 84/55/s Philadelphia 62/42/r 55/39/pc Phoenix 84/66/c 81/63/t Pittsburgh 50/31/sh 47/27/sf Portland, ME 50/43/r 52/30/c Portland, OR 83/53/s 81/51/pc St. Louis 60/41/c 56/32/pc Salt Lake City 70/45/s 75/52/pc Seattle 76/52/s 75/49/pc Tucson 85/59/c 78/55/t Washington, DC 64/43/r 58/38/pc Cairo 93/75/s 101/82/pc Casablanca 71/52/c 72/50/s Johannesburg 65/46/c 68/48/c Kinshasa 89/74/t 86/74/t Lagos 88/77/t 90/77/t Nairobi 80/54/s 82/60/pc Tripoli 81/58/s 72/57/pc Baghdad 90/63/pc 91/63/s Beijing 75/42/s 77/47/s Hong Kong 80/72/sh 80/72/pc Jerusalem 74/57/s 81/66/pc Kabul 65/37/pc 61/42/sh Manila 94/80/s 94/81/s Melbourne 66/50/pc 69/51/s New Delhi 96/68/pc 97/71/s Seoul 69/41/r 63/42/s Singapore 93/79/pc 92/81/pc Sydney 70/63/pc 73/63/sh Tehran 72/51/pc 70/53/pc Tokyo 68/59/r 67/54/pc Amsterdam 49/41/sh 52/40/pc Athens 73/58/c 73/58/pc Belgrade 83/61/pc 75/54/t Berlin 55/38/pc 56/39/pc Budapest 77/52/pc 74/51/t Dublin 52/37/sh 48/33/r London 52/43/sh 55/41/pc Madrid 66/39/s 60/38/pc Moscow 49/35/c 57/42/pc Paris 53/40/sh 55/40/pc Rome 77/56/pc 67/51/t Stockholm 50/38/r 50/35/c Vienna 63/48/pc 57/47/r Zurich 51/40/c 48/38/r 74/45 78/51 81/48 81/48 82/44 76/55 78/56 71/54 78/51 80/56 82/54 77/41 80/41 78/42 87/56 82/55 76/49 66/53 65/53 68/50 76/52 80/47 83/51 65/49 87/54 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016 741Main Street,Suite#2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.redbluffcoldwellbanker.com See All Tehama County Listings at If you are Considering Selling Your Home, Now is the Time! 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