Category Archives: Climate Change

Worst Spots for Weather Extremes Found

Frightful floods, freezes and heat waves favor certain parts of the Northern Hemisphere, the result of strong atmospheric currents that steer extreme weather to the same places over and over again, a new study finds. Fear a cold winter? Then avoid eastern North America. Hate floods? Stay out of western Asia. Enjoy a long…

Rising sea levels will be too much, too fast for Florida

It is amazing for me to see the very aggressive building boom underway in south Florida; on the beaches and barrier islands, throughout downtown and in the low western areas bordering the Everglades. They are building like there is no tomorrow. Unfortunately, they are right. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published its…

Irreversible Changes Now Affect Antarctica and the World

Most people think of Antarctica, as an ice-covered continent at the bottom of the earth, a lifeless place — except, perhaps, for the charismatic penguins. However, Antarctica also has ice-free, Mars-like landscapes that are seemingly lifeless but hide remarkable and unique organisms in the soil. The recent news that the collapse of the West Antarctic…

Catastrophic Collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet Begins

The catastrophic collapse of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet is underway, researchers said today (May 12). The biggest glaciers in West Antarctica are hemorrhaging ice without any way to stem the loss, according to two independent studies. The unstoppable retreat is the likely start of a long-feared domino effect that could cause the entire ice sheet…

Watch Live Today: White House Discusses New Climate Change Report

The White House is hosting an online event today (May 6) to highlight the findings of a newly released report on the impacts of climate change. The Third U.S. National Climate Assessment details the regional effects of climate change and examines the potential impacts of global warming on the national economy. The report found that…

White House climate assessment puts South Florida at high risk

South Florida is getting hotter, stormier and saltier under a new assessment of climate change being released Tuesday by the White House. The National Climate Assessment, which was overseen by a committee of 60 scientists, carves the nation into 11 regions, with the Southeast, as well as the Caribbean, sitting squarely in the crosshairs of…

Totally Parched: 100% of California in Drought

California is parched, with 100 percent of the Golden State entrenched in drought conditions for the first time in 15 years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). "With the expansion of D1 [moderate drought] across southeast California and southwest Arizona, this week marks the first time in the 15-year history of the USDM that…

We’re Not Ready to Deal with Oil Spills in the Arctic

As climate change warms the Arctic faster than the rest of the planet and the once ice-covered ocean is opening up, shipping concerns and oil and gas companies are moving in. With commercialization of the Arctic Ocean heating up, we’re coming to realize that we’re not prepared to deal with the likely disasters that will accompany it—especially…

Wild salamanders that live in the Appalachian Mountains are shrinking because they must burn more energy as the local climate gets hotter and drier, according to a new study. Researchers found that the salamanders they collected between 1980 and 2012 were 8 percent smaller than those collected in earlier decades, starting in 1957. The findings…

White House Launches New Climate Data Website

The White House launched a new effort Wednesday (March 19) to make climate data more accessible to the public. Known as the Climate Data Initiative, the endeavor will bring together on one website all federal climate data, such as flood maps, hurricane tracks and predictions of future sea level rise. The goal is to centralize…