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by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer A new study published in Nature Communications reported that UK summer temperatures could soon reach and exceed 40°C (104°F). As Olivia Rosane reported in EcoWatch, UK summers, at present, only hit this high temperature every 100-300 years. However, according to the new study, which was released by the UK […]
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The Edenville Dam failure in Michigan causing thousands to evacuate puts a spotlight on a problem that the American Society of Civil Engineers highlighted in 2017 when it gave our country a “D” for dam safety (yep – that’s it’s grade) but this grade has not significantly improved in the last 20 years.
Why This Matters: When we think about the security risks to our nation, we need to start counting infrastructure failure due to climate change as one of the most troubling.
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Hurricane season does not officially start until June 1, but the first named storm of the season is arriving early — Tropical Storm Arthur is expected to graze or even come ashore along North Carolina’s Outer Banks later today.
Why This Matters: The state of North Carolina has been battered by storms over the last few years.
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A recently-published study in Science Advances found that climate change predictions that relied only on historical data underestimated by about half the actual number of extremely hot days in Europe and East Asia, and the number of extremely wet days in the U.S., Europe, and East Asia. This paper illustrates how even small increases in global […]
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Early Tuesday morning multiple tornados ripped through East Nashville shredding more than 140 buildings and burying people in piles of rubble. As AP reported, at least 24 people were killed, many of them before they could even get out of bed, authorities said. Sirens and cellphone alerts sounded, but the twisters that struck around 2 […]
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For parts of the Southern United States, this past winter has been one of the wettest on record and more rain is expected this week. Non-stop rains on top of already-saturated ground have brought devastating flooding that has forced people in Mississippi to flee their homes. So much so in fact that Mississippi Gov. Tate […]
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A new study conducted by Portland State University and the Science Museum of Virginia has revealed that a history of redlining in America has forced African Americans to live in neighborhoods that are much more affected by urban heat waves. As the authors explained, “Vulnerable communities—especially those within urban areas in the United States—are disproportionately […]
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Our favorite local National Weather Service forecast office tweeted out this important message on Saturday when a strong line of storms ripped through central Alabama. With extreme and severe weather becoming the new normal, the National Weather Service and local emergency managers’ warnings are more important than ever. Lives are at stake. This forecast office […]
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Cities in Alaska and the Southeastern U.S. saw some of the greatest extremes in weather in 2019 — with Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, coming in at 9.3 degrees warmer than average and Bozeman, Montana was 5.3 degrees colder than average, while Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas was the wettest with 25.02 inches more rain than average and of U.S. cities, Tallahassee, Florida, had a 20-inch rainfall deficit.
Why This Matters: There were some big extremes in 2019 — with an impressive list and geographic spread of U.S. cities seeing record-breaking weather. Record warmth for Alaska is one of the biggest stories of the year.
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If you read my (Miro’s) Bright Ideas op-ed over the weekend then you saw that the tired argument of “yes the climate is changing, but we don’t know how much humans are contributing to it” has been around for at least 20 years. Luckily, that excuse for inaction is finally starting to wear thin as […]
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Hurricanes are the most destructive natural disasters in the United States and the most dangerous and destructive storms are hitting the U.S. three times more frequently than they did a century ago.
Now, what are we going to do about it?
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Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, is being consumed by wildfires, with the city of Sydney at risk for the first time, and the government has declared a state of emergency in the region for the next week. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., a massive arctic front has shifted south, bringing bone-chilling cold and snow to the middle of the country today, with more than 67 million Americans are under winter weather alerts and hundreds of cold temperature records could be broken.
Why This Matters: This is more than just uncomfortable weather — it is dangerous. This type of “catastrophic” wildfire risk has never happened before in New South Wales — and the public is being warned not to be dismissive — with officials explaining that these conditions mean that lives are at risk. The same is true for bitter cold here — with snow from the Dakotas to New England over the course of the week, and it is not even mid-November.
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