Boost to Colorado Snowpack May Lessen Wildfire Risk
As recently as late March it appeared that most of the West, including Colorado, was headed for a long, and tinderbox-dry spring and summer, with the effects of a long-running drought becoming ever more apparent in the form of dwindling water supplies and destructive wildfires. Many officials feared a repeat of last year’s disastrous wildfire seaso… Read More
Six to See: Slideshow of the Week’s Top Climate News
We have more tools to help prepare for disasters and we'll need them with all the wild weather swings. … Read More
Wild Weather Swings May Be a Sign of Climate Change
The bottom line is that the wild swings in weather that have been seen across the Midwest and South Central states during the past few years, from record flood to record drought and back to record flood, may be an example of what’s in store as global warming continues to alter the atmosphere.… Read More
Weather Service Completes Upgrades to Radar Network
The radars have already proved their value to NWS forecasters. On Feb. 10, 2012, an EF-4 tornado struck Hattiesburg, Miss. Dual-pol radar products allowed local NWS forecasters to spot the tornado on their radar screens and determine that it was likely a very large and powerful twister.… Read More
Drought to Floods For Some; Dryness Holds On To West
“Improbably, flooding has now replaced drought as the Midwest’s greatest imminent concern,” said Brad Rippey, U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist, in a press release. “In fact, from April 20 to 23, the Mississippi River rose to one of its five highest levels on record from just south of Moline, Illinois, to just north of St. Louis.… Read More
Forest Service Gets New Wildfire Tool in Time for Season
The new sensor transmits data in near real-time to crews on the ground to analyze and use for decision-making purposes. The new instrument operates like a spinning mirror, and it paints a stripe on the ground perpendicular to the motion of flight, scanning that land for signs of heat and other characteristics that mark wildfire activity, Hinkley sa… Read More
U.S. Shows Rapid Rise of Temps Since First Earth Day
In commemoration of Earth Day, 2013, Climate Central has just released a new report that provides a state-by-state analysis of temperature trends since the first Earth Day took place in 1970. That occasion marked a significant change in America’s environmental consciousness, and led to the creation of, among other things, the Environ… Read More
How the Old Amazon May Help Explain the New
What will be the effect of global warming on the Amazon rainforest? Over the last 30 years, forest fires, most of them deliberately started to clear land by cattle ranchers and soy farmers, have destroyed thousands of square miles of forest. This has increased carbon emissions, reduced rainfall and made the forest more vulnerable to drought. In 20… Read More
