Category: Weather & Tides

Fun Crossword Puzzle that Explores Kelp Forests

12/22/2023 - Atlas Obscura and the Monterey Bay Aquarium worked together with crossword genius Brendan Emmett Quigley to create a fun diversion: this interactive puzzle that explores the aquarium’s Kelp Forest exhibit. The puzzle is available to download here as a .pdf (link below), but you can also do interactively online here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monterey-bay-aquarium-crossword-kelp-forest. The links in… SEE MORE

Explore the unprecedented climate data for November 2023, revealing it as the sixth consecutive month of record-warm global temperatures

Earth Had It’s Warmest Fall On Record

12/19/2023 - By ncei.noaa.gov. Earth had its warmest November and the warmest September–November period on record. November and Seasonal Highlights: November marked the sixth record-warm month in a row. The September–November 2023 global surface temperature ranked as the warmest such period on record, a substantial leap (+0.70°F or +0.39°C) above the previous… SEE MORE

NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., and Polynesian Voyaging Society CEO Nainoa Thompson signed the MOU in San Diego, California, aboard Hōkūle‘a. (Image credit: Ryan Miyamoto)

NOAA, Polynesian Voyaging Society Agreement Aims to Shed Light on Changing Environment

12/16/2023 - By noaa.gov. Traditional science, indigenous knowledge will help communities make informed decisions about environmental stresses. NOAA and the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) late last month agreeing to collaborate on the cultural Moananuiākea voyage and future PVS voyages. The Moananuiākea voyageoffsite link — a 43,000 nautical mile,… SEE MORE

This Antarctic Penguin Sleeps 11 hours a Day—a Few Seconds at a Time

12/8/2023 - By science.org. For sleepy humans, nodding off can be inconvenient—say, during a boring lecture—or even downright dangerous, such as while driving a car. But for Antarctica’s nesting chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus), these secondslong bits of shuteye known as “microsleeps” may help them survive. These mininaps net the birds about 11 hours… SEE MORE

Seattle Washington waterfront during high tide flooding. Image from Canva.com

High Tide Flooding Outlook for December 2023

11/30/2023 - By US Harbors. Coastal Flooding Predictions for December 2023 We're always amazed how NOAA's high tide flooding predictions change so significantly from month to month! This month the Pacific Northwest will see the most flooding, while Florida and the Southeast will be relatively spared. Important: These predictions do not account… SEE MORE

Some houses are being built to stand up to hurricanes and sharply cut emissions, too

11/29/2023 - By apnews.com. When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars and trucks piled up to the windows of Bonny Paulson’s home in the tiny coastal community of Mexico Beach, Florida, even though the house rests on pillars 14 feet above the ground. But Paulson’s… SEE MORE

How ‘Nuisance’ Flooding is Hurting Coastal Economies

11/28/2023 - By yaleclimateconnections.org. In many coastal towns, water spills onto streets and sidewalks during high tide – even on sunny days. This flooding is often called “nuisance” flooding, but it’s more serious than that name implies. “While it feels like a small inconvenience at the time, those impacts add up to… SEE MORE

Gales of November

11/16/2023 - By oceanweatherservices.com. On November 10, 1975 the Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel SS Edmund Fitzgerald carrying a cargo of taconite pellets (iron-bearing flint-like rock used in steelmaking) sank with the loss of all 29 crewmembers in eastern Lake Superior about 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay, Michigan during a severe… SEE MORE

High Tide Flooding Outlook for November 2023

11/13/2023 - By US Harbors. Coastal Flooding Predictions for November 2023 NOAA is predicting possible high-tide flooding both in the middle, and at the end, of the month in various locations across the country. Although the high-tide flood outlook is a bit quieter than October, locations in the Galveston, Texas area may… SEE MORE

A groundbreaking study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reveals the shocking disappearance of billions of snow crabs in Alaska

Billions of Snow Crabs in Alaska Likely Vanished Due to Warm Ocean

11/2/2023 - By theguardian.com. The crabs starved to death en masse because the change in water temperature increased their caloric needs, according to the NOAA Warmer ocean temperatures have likely caused the sudden and shocking disappearance of billions of snow crabs in Alaska, which had previously baffled scientists and environmentalists, a new study has… SEE MORE