Tag: Climate

WHOI Scientist Hunts for 10-Million-Year-Old Ice in Antarctica

5/16/2026 - By Evan Lubofsky, whoi.edu. Ancient ice buried beneath Antarctica holds trapped air bubbles that serve as tiny time capsules of Earth's atmosphere — and a WHOI geoscientist is pushing the record further back than ever before. Sarah Shackleton, who helped recover 6-million-year-old ice cores from Antarctica's Allan Hills in 2023,… SEE MORE

Luxury Antarctic Cruises Double as Climate Research Platforms Through WHOI-Ponant Partnership

5/4/2026 - By Laura Castanon, whoi.edu. A new partnership between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and French expedition cruise line Ponant is turning luxury Antarctic voyages into working science missions — giving researchers rare access to some of the most remote glaciers on the planet while passengers watch the work unfold in real… SEE MORE

Assessing the U.S. Temperature and Precipitation Analysis in July 2025

8/10/2025 - By ncei.noaa.gov. Record overnight warmth dominated the eastern U.S. in July and multiple regions across the country were impacted by flash flooding Key Point: Warm overnight minimum temperatures set July records, impacting more than 55 million people across the eastern states. In July, 1,434 flash flood warnings—the second-highest July total… SEE MORE

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