Jan 13, 2017:
Darcie Goodman Collins, PhD 
Tahoe Daily Tribune

Have you heard the analogy between climate change and steroids? The major league slugger Barry Bonds had been a great hitter before he used steroids. Steroids caused him to hit more home runs, often farther out of the park.

Climate change can make Lake Tahoe’s weather act like it’s on steroids. Tahoe has always had occasional odd, intense weather events, like torrential rain storms in the middle of winter. Global warming will make big rain events like Sunday’s more common.

Protecting Lake Tahoe today requires improving the resiliency of the lake to the effects of our warming climate, which will include more frequent torrential rains like Sunday’s storm or those we saw in October — causing more fine sediment pollution to flow into the lake — and warmer lake water, providing a more hospitable summer environment to algae and invasive species.

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