The World Bank called for urgent action on climate change on Sunday after it released a report that examined the economic, ecological and human impacts that a 7.2°F rise in global temperature would have on the world’s population… Read More
With a month and a half to go before 2013 begins, it’s still technically possible that 2012 won’t end up as the warmest year on record for the continental U.S. It’s possible, but it’s not likely and won’t be easy.… Read More
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the discussion of how New York City’s shoreline can be protected has taken on new urgency. So-called “soft measures, such as wetlands and oyster reefs, are seeing a burst of new attention as possible alternatives to “hard measures such as storm surge barriers. … Read More
Hurricane Sandy has proven to be a wake-up call about the potential dangers posed by climate change, and it’s even possible — though by no means certain — that we won’t just hit the snooze button and go back to sleep as the images of destruction in New York and New Jersey begin to fade. Assuming we stay awake, however, there’s a question about… Read More
Calling Hurricane Sandy a disaster almost underplays the enormous devastation wrought by this freakish monster of a storm. Four days after Sandy came ashore just south of Atlantic City, NJ, millions are still without power, gas stations are running out of fuel, and the death toll continues to rise. But for those of us who worry about climate chan… Read More
Occasionally, two tropical cyclones get close enough to one another to do the Fujiwhara dance. It happens only rarely in the Atlantic. Computer models predict that Sandy is going to do it, not with another tropical cyclone, but with the vortex center associated with the larger extratropical storm. … Read More
To some degree, it probably will be a hybrid storm that shares characteristics of two parents: Sandy, a tropical cyclone (the broader term including hurricanes and tropical storms); and an extratropical “trough, or upper-level low pressure system associated with a big wiggle in the jet stream. … Read More
This year, Hurricane Sandy is threatening a wide swath of the East Coast from Virginia through Maine. Sandy remains a Category 1 hurricane with top winds of 80 mph as of 8 a.m. Friday. The expected path of Sandy resembles a backward “S as it will first swing away from the coast and then curve back toward the northwest.… Read More