Global Warming-El Nino Link Stronger but Still Not Proven
The natural climate cycle known as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) would wreak havoc even if humans weren’t warming the planet. During its El Niño phase, the Americas get floods and torrential rains while Asia suffers drought. When it swings over to the La Niña phase, it’s the opposite. But humans are warming the planet, and a report … Read More
Sandy Tops List of 2012 Extreme Weather & Climate Events
From unprecedented heat waves that shattered "Dust Bowl" era records from the 1930s, to Hurricane Sandy, which devastated coastal New Jersey and New York, 2012 was the year Mother Nature had it out for the U.S. No country on Earth rivaled the U.S. in 2012 in terms of extreme weather and climate events, as one rare episode after another rocked the c… Read More
A Year After Flooding, Commerce on Mississippi Imperiled
It was only a year ago that there was record flooding along the Mississippi River and many of its tributaries. Heavy rainfall combined with spring snowmelt to cause the mighty Mississippi to overflow its banks, damaging towns and farmland that line the waterway.… Read More
Sans Polar Satellites, Sandy Forecasts Would’ve Suffered
In an analysis NOAA released on Tuesday, meteorologists at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading, England, re-ran their computer model after depriving it of the data that comes from the current fleet of polar-orbiting sat… Read More
NOAA Forms Hurricane Sandy Review Team, Again
After aborting its initial attempt, NOAA formed a panel to examine the NWS's performance during Hurricane Sandy.… Read More
Changing Colombian Andes Pose Risk for Millions
Páramos resemble a sort of alpine archipelago, each a link in the chain of distinct island ecosystems that have evolved in isolation to produce plants found nowhere else on the planet. They play a crucial role in maintaining a reliable water supply for millions of people in major cities like Bogotá and Medellín. And along with the forests below, th… Read More
Accelerated Warming Driving Arctic Into New Volatile State
Since the "Arctic Report Card" began in 2006, each iteration has issued more shrill alarms about the pace and extent of the changes taking place in the Arctic. This year’s report is noteworthy for what it says about the acceleration of climate change in the Far North.… Read More
‘Atmospheric River’ Piles Up Massive Rain, Snow & Winds
The National Weather Service’s Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in Maryland has compiled the most impressive statistics from the storms that struck between Nov. 27 and Dec. 3, which rolled in from the Pacific Ocean and tapped a feed of moisture that stretched from the tropics to San Francisco.… Read More
