• Weather

Urban Heat Islands Disproportionately Affect Black Neighborhoods

• Environmental Justice
• extreme heat
• extreme weather

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 […]

• Weather

One Safety Thing: Heed the Warnings of Strong Storms

• extreme weather
• severe storms
• tornados
• warnings

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 […]

• Weather

Where In the U.S. Was Weather Its Most Extreme in 2019?

• coldest
• driest
• extreme weather
• hottest
• weather
• wettest

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.

• Weather

Attribution Science Connects Extreme Weather to Climate Change

• attribution science
• climate change
• extreme weather

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 […]

• Weather

The Most Devastating Hurricanes Are Hitting the US More Often

• climate change
• extreme weather
• Hurricanes
• storms

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?

• Weather

Extreme Weather Around the Globe: U.S. Freezing, Australia on Fire, Canada Melting

• brush fires
• extreme weather
• sea level rise

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.