In Fear of Firebugs Across the West
In a little over a decade, the largest mountain pine beetle outbreak on record (by a factor of 10) has killed more than 70,000 square miles of Rocky Mountain forests — an area the size of Washington State. From above, the infested pine trees seem color-coded: green is healthy, red is dead, and after three or four years, the dead red needles fall of… Read More
Life Out West and On the Edge (of Wildfire)
When the Waldo Canyon fire ignited in the mountains near Colorado Springs this June, Cindy and Mark Maluschka started packing. The evacuation zone mapped out by city officials ended two streets away from them, but the Maluschkas have seen fires spread faster than expected before. The 2002 Hayman Fire — until this summer, the most destructive … Read More
Forest Service Fights All Fires Now, But at What Cost?
On July 12, lightning sparked a forest fire in western Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex — a place where wildfires are common this time of year. Usually, if they’re small and don’t threaten to get out of control, the U.S. Forest Service will let them burn. Small fires are good for the forest ecosystem, burning off dead timber and creating … Read More
July Sizzles, Records Fall: Warmest Month on Record
July 2012 was officially not only the warmest July on record, but also the warmest month ever recorded for the lower 48 states, according to a report released Wednesday by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center. The average temperature for the month came in at 77.6°F overall, which is 3.3°F… Read More
Times Review: ‘Global Weirdness’ is a Winner
“That is, it’s a book, written in the kind of plain English of which Strunk and White would approve, that lays out what we know about climate change while hewing to the facts and taking great care to avoid bias and hysteria,… Read More
10 Q&A Videos with Lead Author of ‘Global Weirdness’
Senior science writer Mike Lemonick and main author of Global Weirdness sat down to discuss Climate Central's first book project. … Read More
‘Global Weirdness,’ Climate Central’s Book Debut
There’s a lot of debate about climate change, but not in the scientific community. People who actually study the climate overwhelmingly agree that greenhouse gases generated by human activity are pushing Earth’s climate into a state the world hasn’t seen for many tens of thousands of years. These experts don’t know to the last detail what will … Read More
Lemonick Takes On the Weather Channel: The Sequel
Climate Central senior science writer Michael Lemonick's Wednesday appearance on The Weather Channel's "Wake Up With Al" show just wasn't enough to satisfy the audience, so he was back Thursday for an interview with Al Roker's co-anchor Stephanie Abrams. The topic, as before: Global Weirdness, our new book.… Read More
