Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle.
Our Daily Planet is a daily morning email (M-F) to keep you informed of the stories shaping our environment. If these issues matter to you, we’d like to be the best ten minutes of your morning.
Why This Matters: Tropical Storm Bertha is following an increasingly familiar pattern of unprecedented amounts of rainfall along with strong winds that persist into the interior areas. Tropical storms, it seems, are not just for summer and not just for coastal areas anymore. The potential for flash flooding due to torrential rain falling over a short period of time threatens cities like Fayetteville, Charlotte, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Roanoke and Wytheville, Virginia; and Charleston and Beckley, West Virginia. This is further evidence of the new normal when it comes to severe summer weather, thanks to climate change.
South Florida Got Drenched – Rain Records Shattered
Bertha is just the latest in a string of tropical storms and hurricanes striking the Carolinas in recent years, including Jose, Maria, Florence, Michael, Dorian, and Humberto just since 2017. Flash flood warnings were issued for parts of north-central and northeastern South Carolina, central North Carolina, southwestern Virginia, and southeastern West Virginia because the ground is already saturated from other significant rainfall events this week. Strong thunderstorms ripped through Charlotte last Friday, killing two people, with lots of trees and power lines down. More rain is forecast for the region through the end of the week.
Flooded Streets in Miami Image: Miami Herald screengrab
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.
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.
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. […]
Subscribe to the email that top lawmakers, renowned scientists, and thousands of concerned citizens turn to each morning for the latest environmental news and analysis.
Want the lastest climate news summarized for you each morning?
Our Daily Planet is your daily dose of the stories shaping our world and the ways that you can take action. From the climate crisis to the protection of biodiversity, if these issues matter to you then please subscribe & stay informed!
Your privacy is Important! We promise never to use your email address to send you spam or advertisements.