• Weather

BRRRR – Global Warming Could Cause Polar Vortex to Blast the U.S. With Cold Air

• Arctic
• climate change
• jet stream
• Polar Vortex
• science
• snow

Above the North Pole, a polar vortex — a swirling flurry of cold air — could cause weeks of frigid weather in the Eastern United States, Northern Europe, and East Asia according to forecasters. Snow blanketed Spain over the weekend, dumping nearly two feet of snow on Madrid — the most snow in the last 50 years there.  Madrid

Why this Matters:  While many associate global warming with hotter weather, climate change can also cause harsher, more snowy winters.

• Weather

Top Ten Stories of 2020: A Record-Setting Hurricane Season

• climate refugee
• hurricane
• ocean
• rapid intesification
• severe storms
• warming

This year we shattered the record for the number of named storms over the course of the six months of hurricane season with 30 — we exceeded the previous record by four.   There were so many storms that we ran out of names and went deep into the Greek alphabet, which is what happens when we use up all the typical ones.

• Weather

One Cold Thing: Helping Kids In Need Get Outdoors In The Winter

• boots
• coat
• mittens
• outdoors
• snow day

1 in 5 American children is living in poverty. #SpreadWarmth in your community – #donate coats your children have outgrown to a child in need to our #CoatDrive. We’ll donate it to @onewarmcoat now through 12/18. More info > https://t.co/93n8P6X04q#OnQGivesBack #DonationDrive pic.twitter.com/7zN8Jg38lF — On Q Financial, Inc. (@OnQFinancialInc) December 15, 2020 After the northeastern U.S. […]

• Weather

FEMA Proposes Major Cuts to Disaster Relief

• climate change
• FEMA
• Hurricanes
• natural disasters
• wildfires

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer Immediately following a record-breaking Hurricane season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is proposing massive cuts to federal disaster aid that would make it more difficult for states to qualify for federal disaster aid.  The proposal, published Monday, would be one of the largest revisions of federal disaster policy […]

• Weather

2020 Hurricane Season Winds Down After Record-Breaking Storms

• Atlantic ocean
• hurricane
• Hurricanes
• tropical storm

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer As the 2020 hurricane season draws to a close, scientists are reflecting on the devastating records set by this year’s storms. 2020 had the most named storms ever recorded, ten of which were classified as “rapidly intensifying,” a record which occurred only in two other years, 1995 and 2010. […]

• Weather

Australia’s Extreme Heat Prompts Fears of Another “Black Summer”

• Australia
• Australian fires
• biodiversity
• brush fires
• extinction

The 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season burnt more than 18 million hectares across the country, destroyed more than 2,000 homes, and claimed the lives of 34 people and about one billion animals. The devastation was gutwrenching and a wake-up call to the entire world that climate change is our greatest existential threat. Yet as fire crews […]