Tuesday Quick Hits: WY 2023 Ends; BLM sheds "Livestock & Mining" label?; petro-state nuttiness

Also: Messing with Maps (Durango Smelter edition)

🌞 Aridification Watch 🌵

The 2023 water year ended Sept. 30, and wow was it a weird one. It was snowy, then wet, then warm, then dry. It was La Niña acting like El Niño, then El Niño acting a bit like La Niña (there’s a gender-bending quip in there somewhere, but I’ll refrain). When the whopper of a winter ended, it really looked like we’d have a near-r…