2012 U.S. Drought Hits New Highs; Southwest Gets Relief
The drought is the worst to strike the U.S. since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s and lengthy droughts of the 1950s. It came on suddenly and largely without warning, and although the main trigger was most likely a La Niña event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, the drought was exacerbated by extremely hot temperatures.… Read More
90 Years Later, Death Valley Sets World Temp Record
The searing heat waves that blanketed the nation earlier this summer sent temperatures soaring well above 110°F in parts of the U.S., but that’s nowhere close to the hottest temperature on record — an almost unimaginable 136.4° F, taken on September 13, 1922, in the Sahara Desert at El Azizia, Libya. That’s what the Guinness Book of World Records s… Read More
‘Astonishing’ Ice Melt May Lead to More Extreme Winters
The “astounding loss of sea ice this year is adding a huge amount of heat to the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere, said Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “It’s like having a new energy source for the atmosphere.… Read More
2012 Record Temperatures: Which States Led the Nation
The summer of 2012 has been one for the record books in the lower 48 states. On the heels of the country’s warmest-ever spring, several record-breaking June and July heat waves kept the Southwest, Midwest and Atlantic Coast sweltering. July went on to become the all-time warmest month on record for the country. [add statistic from August once we’ve… Read More
Dry-Soil Phenomenon Triggers More Storms, Not Less
A team of European scientists, parched soil is more likely than damp soil to trigger some kinds of rainstorms — and the fact that climate models assume the opposite may lead them to make unrealistic projections. “In terms of future climate, it could mean that you simulate longer droughts than would happen in reality, said co-author Phil Harris, of… Read More
U.S. Has Third-Warmest Summer, Warmest Year to Date
The extreme heat helped spread and intensify a massive drought that has shown no signs of abating in many areas, particularly across the West and High Plains. Nebraska and Wyoming saw their driest summers on record, and several other states in those regions saw one of their top ten driest summers.… Read More
Mixture of Grim News, Relief in Drought Forecast for Fall
The record drought in the U.S. is forecast to ease in some regions during the fall, but a large area from the West to the High Plains may be left high and dry by prevailing weather patterns through the end of November, according to the federal government’s latest seasonal drought outlook.… Read More
Climate Change Stress Killing Forests, and Why it Matters
Forests cover some 30 percent of Earth’s surface, and it’s hard to overestimate how crucial they are to the functioning of the planet. Forests provide shelter for uncountable numbers of species, hold soil in place that would otherwise wash away, pull excess carbon out of the atmosphere, absorb and re-emit water at such a rate that they literally … Read More
