Climate Change a Bigger Extinction Threat than Asteroids
As teaching moments go, it doesn’t get much better than this. NASA scientists have known for nearly a year that a small asteroid called 2012 DA14, about 150 ft. across, would whiz past Earth at the nail-biting distance of 17,000 miles or so — significantly closer than the 22,500-mile altitude occupied by geosynchronous satellites. It happened right… Read More
NOAA Head: Weather Forecasts at Risk Over Budget Cuts
Automatic budget cuts set to take effect March 1 could add to the woes of the federal government’s troubled weather satellite programs, jeopardizing future forecasts, a top official said yesterday. “It’s not going to be pretty,” outgoing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco said of the package of across-the-board … Read More
Good News, Bad News Continues for Drought Across U.S.
Thursday’s release of the latest U.S. Drought Monitor brought slivers of good news for some parts of the continental U.S., while more bad news for other regions. Storms that swept across the Southeast over the past week made a significant dent in drought conditions, eradicating the areas of “exceptional” drought — the worst category. Those rains … Read More
New Weather Instrument To Hitch a Ride on Space Station
Rather than building an entirely new, autonomous satellite, which could cost up to $1 billion or more, the agency is planning to attach the refurbished instrument to the International Space Station (ISS). Once it is safely attached, the instrument will not require any interaction with the Space Station crew, NASA said in a press release.… Read More
NWS Confirms Sandy Was Not a Hurricane At Landfall
In a technical report released on Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reaffirmed its initial conclusion that Hurricane Sandy was no longer officially a hurricane when it made landfall on Oct. 29 near Brigantine, N.J., just north of Atlantic City. Instead, it was a “post-tropical cyclone” packing hurricane-force winds… Read More
Rich Moisture Feed Helped Blizzard Bury Northeast
The amazing snowfall totals were in part the result of the rich tropical moisture feed that the storm tapped into, as Climate Central reported on Feb. 8. … Read More
Ongoing Coverage of Historic Drought in U.S.
After a warm and dry spring and a scorchingly hot start to the summer, the U.S. is in the grips of one of its top 10 worst drought events on record. The drought extends from Delaware to California, with the most intense drought conditions centered in the nation's heartland. Corn growers and ranchers have been hard-hit this year, prompting fears of … Read More
Blizzard Buries New England, Breaks Snowfall Records
The storm shut down travel across the region, knocked out power to nearly 700,000 customers, stranded many motorists in their vehicles on Long Island, and exceeded benchmarks set during the infamous Blizzard of 1978, which occurred 35 years ago this week.… Read More
