• 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 […]

• Weather

Iota Marks 30 Named Atlantic Storm

• extreme weather
• Hurricane Iota
• Hurricanes

by Ashira Morris, ODP Contributing Writer Hurricane Iota, the 30th named storm this year, made landfall in Nicaragua Monday night as a Category 4 storm. As it continues to move across Central America, it could still bring “life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds, flash flooding and landslides,” according to the National Hurricane Center. Iota was the […]

• Weather

Hurricanes Are Moving Further Inland as Climate Warms

• climate change
• extreme weather
• Hurricanes
• storm surge

  by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer New research shows that hurricanes are retaining more of their strength after hitting land than they have previously. Hurricanes were once expected to quickly weaken after landfall, but over the past 50 years, the time it takes for hurricanes to dissipate on land has almost doubled.  Researchers say […]

• Weather

Philippines Hit with Sixth Storm in Five Weeks

• climate change
• extreme weather
• hurricane
• Philippines
• tropical storms
• typhoon

by Ashira Morris, ODP Contributing Writer Just a week and a half after a super typhoon hit the Philippines, the island nation was pummeled with heavy rains from Typhoon Vamco yesterday. The storm hit the main island of Luzon, wiping out power for nearly 2 million homes in the capital city of Manila and surrounding […]

• Weather

Tropical Storm Eta Threatens Florida, With More Storms Brewing

• extreme weather
• hurricane
• Miami
• National Climate Assessment
• tropical storm

After a year of devastating storms, yet another storm, Tropical Storm Eta, drenches and batters Florida and Cuba. The storm has moved into the Gulf of Mexico where it is expected to meander and then move north toward the Florida coast again.

Why this Matters: Eta is the first storm of 2020 to make landfall in Florida, and five named storms hit Louisiana, Hurricanes Delta, Laura, and Zeta, as well as Tropical Storms Cristobal and Marco.