Tag: Climate

Unmasking the Complicated Chemistry of Wildfire Smoke: How far have Scientists Come?

6/5/2025 - By Amber Liggett. Each time Lisa Patel stepped out of her apartment, a burning sensation stung her eyes and nose. The thick, toxic air made it difficult to breathe, tightening her chest as she moved through the streets of New Delhi. With asthma, every breath felt like a struggle. Amid… SEE MORE

Assessing the U.S. Climate in April 2025

5/13/2025 - By ncei.noaa.gov. April brought widespread rainfall and severe storms to the central U.S., and much of the West, South and East remained dry and unseasonably warm Key Points: A slow-moving storm system in early April brought widespread flooding and over 150 tornadoes to the South and Midwest, resulting in numerous… SEE MORE

Assessing the U.S. Climate in March 2025

4/11/2025 - By ncei.noaa.gov. Tornadoes in March were more than double the monthly average and three separate outbreaks produced more than 200 tornadoes Key Points: A multi-day severe weather outbreak in the middle of March caused significant damage across several states from Texas to Tennessee, resulting in multiple fatalities. Two EF-4 tornadoes… SEE MORE

Image Credits: MARCH 20, 2025: At NOAA's South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatory, a wave of snow frames Dark Sector telescopes, giving a final glimpse of sunlight before six months of darkness. (Image credit: Ian Crocker/NOAA)

Last Light at South Pole Brings 6 Months of Darkness

4/5/2025 - By noaa.gov. In the Northern Hemisphere, March 20 signals the start of spring. It's the start of fall in the Southern Hemisphere, where researchers and staff at NOAA’s South Pole Observatory recently witnessed the fading light of the sun and the start of six months of darkness. “As the sun gets low on… SEE MORE

Lassen National Volcanic Park, Warner Valley, California, May 2012. (Image credit: John Cloud/NOAA)

Spring Outlook: Dry in the West, Milder than Average in the South and East

3/22/2025 - By noaa.gov. Drought to develop or persist for Rocky Mountains, Southwest and southern Plains Today, forecasters from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center — part of the National Weather Service — issued the 2025 U.S. Spring Outlook for temperature, precipitation, drought and flooding for the coming months. Forecasters predict above-average temperatures for the East… SEE MORE

Image Credits: What the collision that spawned Earth's Moon may have looked like. Collisions between Earth and rocky debris in the early solar system would have kept the surface molten and surface temperatures blistering. Image courtesy NASA.

What’s the Hottest Earth’s Ever Been?

3/12/2025 - By Michon Scott and Rebecca Lindsey. Our 4.54-billion-year-old planet probably experienced its hottest temperatures in its earliest days, when it was still colliding with other rocky debris (planetesimals) careening around the solar system. The heat of these collisions would have kept Earth molten, with top-of-the-atmosphere temperatures upward of 3,600° Fahrenheit.… SEE MORE

Image Credits: The Pacific Palisades Fire near Malibu, California, which started on January 7, 2025. Adobe stock photo.

The Weather and Climate Influences on the January 2025 Fires Around Los Angeles

2/22/2025 - By Rebecca Lindsey. Highlights A trifecta of fire-friendly climate conditions set the stage for the January 2025 fires: back-to-back wet winters that boosted vegetation, a record-dry fall, and an extremely strong Santa Ana wind event. By one estimate, record-low fall precipitation had a bigger influence on the exceptionally low vegetation… SEE MORE

We are Absolutely Confident that Some Expected La Niña Impacts will Bust this Winter

2/5/2025 - By Michelle L'Heureux. Right now, with La Niña conditions currently underway, I guarantee at least one of our readers is currently thinking “This alleged ‘La Niña’ is going to bust so hard in my region. It’s supposed to be DRY and it’s been WET so far. What the heck is wrong… SEE MORE

Image Credits: Temperatures were well below freezing (blue) across much of the U.S. Southeast on the morning of January 22, 2025. NOAA Climate.gov image, based on RTMA/URMA data.

Historic January 2025 snowstorm in the Southern U.S.

2/4/2025 - By Nicole Collins. An Arctic blast plunged into the southeastern United States on Sunday, January 19, arriving just in time for the on-average coldest stretch of the year. It brought record-breaking low temperatures and fueled a winter storm that dropped historic snowfall for parts of the South. On January 22,… SEE MORE

After the storm clouds cleared on January 22, 2025, satellites captured an unusual sight: a swath of snow arcing around the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Southeast. Climate.gov image based on NOAA-21 satellite data from the VIIRS sensor.

Historic January 2025 Snowstorm in the Southern U.S.

1/27/2025 - By climate.gov. An Arctic blast plunged into the southeastern United States on Sunday, January 19, arriving just in time for the on-average coldest stretch of the year. It brought record-breaking low temperatures and fueled a winter storm that dropped historic snowfall for parts of the South. On January 22, the… SEE MORE