Tell Me Why: We Need ‘Normals’ and Long-term Trends
What is “normal” when it comes to temperature and precipitation? The definition not only varies with location and time, but it changes from decade to decade. And it’s those decadal trends that interest climate scientists like Anthony Arguez. He explains the importance of “normals” in this version of Tell Me Why.… Read More
Climate Central Leads 2012’s Climate Coverage
Year-end numbers for media coverage of climate change were released Wednesday in an annual report by The Daily Climate, and while that coverage fell 2 percent, there were some interesting numbers. According to The Daily Climate’s archives, worldwide coverage by many major news organizations gave roughly the same amount of coverage this year as the… Read More
Extreme Weather 101: Climate Change and Precipitation
When it rains, it pours. That’s how we may want to think about the effects of climate change on precipitation. Scientist Tom Petersen and meteorologist Dan Satterfield explain the link between rainstorms and global warming in Extreme Weather 101.… Read More
Cutting Short-lived Pollutant Can Halve Near-term Warming
Much within Amy Luers' recent Daily Climate essay on extreme weather and the climate crisis is to be commended. Indeed, cutting emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) today won't eliminate a climate change-induced pattern favoring more severe storms and extreme weather. In advocating for emissions cuts, the climate change community has to avoid … 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
Post Sandy, Wetlands Could Help Shore Up NYC’s Defense
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
How Fujiwhara Effect Will Toss Hurricane Sandy Into U.S.
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
How Hurricane Sandy Can Become a ‘Frankenstorm’
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
