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Climate Central surveys and conducts scientific research on climate change and informs the public of key findings. Our scientists publish and our journalists report on climate science, energy, sea level rise . . . . Read More
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The storm, which was centered across the Upper Midwest but has since drifted eastward and weakened, was a very powerful area of low pressure fueled by the strong temperature contrast between cooler and drier Canadian air masses and warmer and more humid air well to the south. These types of storms are actually rather common in the fall, when such l… Read More
While international trade results in carbon emissions thanks to the fossil fuels burned by planes, trucks and ships, a Princeton University research team has found that world trade could also mean more efficient water use as a side benefit. And since water is a key resource in the production of climate-friendly energy sources, including … Read More
Drought conditions did expand, though, in parts of the Upper Midwest and Plains states, such as in Minnesota and the Dakotas. According to the winter outlook that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released on Thursday, these regions are likely to see a drier and warmer than average winter… Read More
Given that the majority of the Lower 48 states are still mired in severe drought conditions, with the latest drought monitor showing a continuous swath of drought stretching from California to Illinois, the forecast offers little hope for significant relief anytime soon. In fact, Mike Halpert, the deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center… Read More
Sea level is rising all over the world thanks to the heat-trapping effect of greenhouse-gas emissions, but according to a new study published in the Journal of Coastal Research, the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada have seen the ocean rise at an accelerating rate in recent decades. Based on readings at 23 tidal gauges stretching along the … Read More
NOAA operates two GOES spacecraft that orbit at a distance of 22,300 miles above the Equator, and another GOES spacecraft orbits in what is known as "orbital storage mode" in case any trouble arises. NOAA also operates the polar operational environmental satellite program satellites, which fly 540 miles above Earth’s surface, circling near the Nort… Read More
If it feels or looks like autumn leaves are taking longer to change color, you’re not imagining things. Over the past 25 years, the onset of autumn has shifted throughout the lower 48 states, with leaves now staying on trees about 10 days longer than they did in the early 1980s. Using satellite-based measurements of the Normalized Difference Veget… Read More
The new and most controversial finding in the report is that the upward trend in weather-related disaster losses is being driven in part by manmade global warming, since previous studies have shown that socioeconomic factors, such as population growth and urban sprawl, are behind this trend. At the same time, however, studies have increasingly fou… Read More
