Heat and Threat of Wildfires Blaze on in Australia
a delayed monsoon is helping to heat Australia to record levels, with weather forecasters adding new colors onto weather maps to indicate temperatures up to 129°F. While the wildfires have diminished some, the heat is forecast to return to Queensland and other areas during the weekend into early next week, and the fire danger remains "extreme" in s… Read More
5 Charts Help Illustrate 2012 As Warmest Year on Record
The 1°F margin between 2012 and 1998 may not seem like much at first, but usually such temperature records are set by just a few fractions of a degree. As seen in this NOAA chart, 2012 towers above the pack of warm years.… Read More
Tell Me Why: The Climate Extremes Index Matters
The Climate Extremes Index, or CEI, tracks the highest and lowest 10 percent of extremes in a number of categories. As climate scientist Deke Arndt explains in this edition of Tell Me Why, the CEI contains critical information on how are climate is changing and what climate trends we may see.… Read More
Extreme Weather 101: Drought & Our Changing Climate
Drought has left huge swaths of the United States parched this year. Are these dry conditions simply a fluke, or something we many need to get used to in a warming world? Scientist Mike Brewer and meteorologist Dan Satterfield explain the connection between drought and a changing climate in our series Extreme Weather 101.… Read More
World Bank Ties Ending Poverty with Climate Change
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
Only Rare Cold Will Keep 2012 From Being Hottest Year
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
A Record Lack of Rain in Drought-Stricken Nebraska
As the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) stated in its monthly drought report, several states also blew away their previous records. "It should be noted that the dryness this year has been so extreme and persistent that, not only did several states rank driest for several time scales... but their records were by wide margins compared to the prev… Read More
Welcome Rains Are Forecast, But So Are Severe Storms
Although it may spark damaging thunderstorms, drought relief is the bright side to this upcoming storm system. It is expected to provide beneficial rainfall, on the order of one to two inches, in some of the hardest hit states. Computer model projections show the likelihood for particularly heavy rains in parts of Oklahoma.… Read More
