Colombia’s Cloud Forests Besieged by Climate Change
Five hours by truck and mule from the nearest town, a rumbling generator cuts through the silent night to power large spotlights as botanists crouch and kneel on large blue tarps spread across a cow pasture. It's nearly midnight, and the team works urgently to describe every detail of the dozens of colorful orchids, ferns and other exotic plants th… Read More
Balmy November Virtually Assures 2012 to Be Hottest Year
With just more than three weeks left in the year, it’s virtually certain that 2012 will displace 1998 as the warmest year on record for the contiguous U.S. according to NOAA. The agency’s monthly State of the Climate Report, released on Thursday, shows that temperatures across the lower 48 states averaged 44.1°F for November -- 2.1°F higher than 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
Top 5 Weather & Climate Challenges Facing White House
How the Obama administration handles these issues, and more, will help determine how resilient the U.S. will become in the face of weather and climate extremes, two of which – the summer-long drought, and Hurricane Sandy – were center stage in 2012. Some of these kinds of events are already becoming more frequent and severe due in part to global wa… Read More
Doha Talks: EU Weakened Over New Emissions Targets
The European Union will enter crucial global climate talks that begin next week with a weakened bargaining position because it has already met its targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions eight years ahead of time and has no plans to put more ambitious cuts on the table.… Read More
Powerful Windstorm Winds Down in Plains, Midwest
The storm, which was centered across the Upper Midwest but has since drifted eastward and weakened, was a very powerful area of low pressure fueled by the strong temperature contrast between cooler and drier Canadian air masses and warmer and more humid air well to the south. These types of storms are actually rather common in the fall, when such l… Read More
Report: The Age of Western Wildfires
The 2012 wildfire season isn't over yet, but already this year is shaping up to be the worst on record for fires in the American West. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, with two months still to go in the fire season, the total area already burned this year is 30 percent more than in an average year and fires burning right now acros… Read More
Raging Fire Season Highlights Human Cost of Firefighting
Earlier this month, a 20-year-old digging a fire line in the Idaho mountains was killed by a falling tree, making her the 12th person to die in forest firefighting operations around the country this year. When I attended her funeral a few days later, nearly 300 of her fellow U.S. Forest Service firefighters lined up outside Moscow, Idaho’s, Church … Read More
