Weather and Climate News

Top Climate Hazards in 2050

Which climate hazard is expected to intensify the fastest in your area?

Current & Future Climate Hazards in Your City

In the past six months, Florida has faced record high temperatures, abnormally toxic algal blooms, and the house-flattening winds of Hurricane Michael. California suffered its worst-ever wildfires, preceded by drought and followed by mudslides. Scientists may study climate change impacts separately, but their potential to strike together is clear.

2018’s Billion-Dollar Disasters Show Weather & Climate Impacts Across the U.S.

Hurricanes hit the U.S. especially hard, leading 2018’s near-record list of 14 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. Hurricanes Michael and Florence combined for at least $49 billion in damages — over half of the total from the year’s included events (cost estimates will be updated over time). In addition, the Western wildfire season was

Billion-Dollar Disasters Trending Up

Floodwaters surged through Boston streets during a March Nor’easter. Nearly 19,000 structures were destroyed in the Camp Fire, which became California’s largest-ever wildfire just months after the previous record blaze. Hurricanes Florence and Michael flooded farms and flattened homes. It has been another year of devastating extreme weather events,

A 2018 Summer of Extremes

Meteorological summer has been one of extremes in the U.S. Overall, the East has been wet while the West has baked in the heat. These types of extremes, which are set up by a consistent jet stream pattern, are amplified by a warming climate. Many locations in the Middle Atlantic, Ohio Valley, and Upper Midwest had one of their 10 wettest summers

Smoke Wave Days in the Western U.S.

The U.S. has come a long way in cleaning up its air. The Clean Air Act of 1970 made air pollution catastrophes like the 1948 smog that killed nearly 40 people near Pittsburgh a distant memory. But while the air is much cleaner overall, smoke from wildfires is threatening the progress that’s been made, as particulate pollution from wildfires has

2017 Was the Year of the Billion-Dollar Disaster

Rather than one type of event focused on one part of the country, this year’s disasters were spread over several regions. Climate change may have worsened some of the events this year, including drought in the northern Plains and wildfires in the West. In a warming world, soils dry out more from evaporation, making droughts worse and further drying

The Number and Cost of Weather Disasters is Increasing in the U.S.

Climate change is increasing the trend in weather and climate extremes in the U.S. A NOAA/NCEI report indicates that through September, the U.S. has had 15 individual billion-dollar weather disasters in 2017. Only 2011 had more billion-dollar disasters with 16, and that was through the entire year. Even without the final calculations from Harvey,

Here’s How Wildfire Pollution Harms Health

Large wildfires are becoming more frequent and widespread in the western U.S. Smoke from these fires is undermining decades of progress in reducing air pollution from tailpipes, power plants, and other industrial sources in many areas. Large fires are becoming more common and severe, and the smoke from these fires has serious public health impact

Climate Extremes Index

Harvey and Irma have brought devastating floods to Texas and Florida, while severe to exceptional drought has contributed to wildfires in Montana and the Pacific Northwest. These types of weather and climate extremes are trending upward, as indicated by the NCEI Climate Extremes Index. In addition to accounting for drought and hurricane winds, the

2017 Summer Review

We rank the average summer temperature and precipitation totals for our Climate Matters markets. We compare all summers in each market’s period of record, and rank them into five equal groups. While some places were cooler this year than in recent summers, they may have still been above average over the entire period of record, as warming trends in

Large Wildfires Are Increasing. This Is What We Know About Wildfire Severity

With fire season starting to ramp up, we are again reminded of a clear trend that has emerged in the western U.S. in recent decades. We are experiencing larger and more frequent wildfires. The metric most frequently used to quantify this trend is area burned, or how large in terms of acres or hectares a given fire’s scorching fingertips managed