Drought Prompts Natural Disaster Declaration in 26 States
The most widespread drought in the U.S. since 1988 has prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue a natural disaster declaration for about 1,000 counties in 26 states, making farm operators eligible for low interest emergency loans.… Read More
Spurred by Record Heat, Drought Stretches Across U.S.
According to the Drought Monitor, in the 18 main corn-growing states, 30 percent of the corn crop is now listed as being in “poor or “very poor condition, an increase from 22 percent the previous week. “In addition, fully half of the nation’s pastures and ranges are in poor or very poor condition, up from 28 percent in mid-June, the report state… Read More
Heidi Cullen Tackles Climate Extremes on ABC News
The July 10 release of two comprehensive climate science reports by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sparked widespread media coverage, including at Climate Central and elsewhere. The reports depicted the human influence on the global climate system during 2011, using indicators such as the amount of greenhouse gases in … Read More
El Nino May Be On the Way, Altering Weather Patterns
El Niño events can also help boost global average surface temperatures. A strong El Niño event led to the record warm year of 1998, and some climate scientists, including NASA’s James Hansen, have pointed out that a new El Niño event would likely lead to another record warm year given the combination of El Niño and manmade global warming.… Read More
U.S. Has Warmest Year-to-Date As Drought Expands
The U.S. continued its hot streak through June, recording the warmest January-to-June period on record, with drought conditions spreading across the Lower 48 states to an unprecedented degree… Read More
Heat Wave Peaks After Breaking Thousands of Records
During the heat wave of past 30 days nearly 8,000 warm temperature records have been broken or tied. … Read More
Ongoing Heat Wave in U.S. Rivals Events of Dust Bowl Era
Tens of millions of Americans continue to sweat out one of the most intense heat waves on record since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, with heat watches and warnings in effect yet again from the Plains to the Mid-Atlantic states. As happened during the Dust Bowl, the heat is helping to dry out soils, increasing the extent and severity of drought co… Read More
Historic Heat Wave Marches On as Drought Expands
Much of the U.S. continues to be in the grip of unrelenting and dangerous heat, and the records just keep falling. During June alone, more than 3,200 daily high temperature records were set or tied, and more records have been set during the first week of July as well.… Read More
