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Channels of Meltwater Detected in Antarctic Glacier
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 12th, 2013
Climate Central: An ambitious new study of Antarctica's ice shelves using an array of instruments, including sensors lowered more than 1,000 feet below the ice, has revealed clues about the mechanisms that are causing the Pine Island Glacier Ice Shelf, which holds back a portion of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), to melt. The study, along with other ongoing research, could result in more accurate estimates of future sea level rise.
The new study, published on Thursday in the journal Science, provides...
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Report Ties Climate to Extreme Events, But Shows Hurdles
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 6th, 2013
Climate Central: Climate scientists examining a dozen extreme weather events from 2012 found that manmade global warming likely contributed to at least half of them, including a record-breaking deadly heat wave in the U.S. The international report released on Thursday offers a demonstration of the new capabilities that scientists are developing in an emerging, complex area of climate science known as "extreme event attribution.'
On the whole, the scientists found that, as suspected, climate change has already...
Risk of Sandy-level flood in NYC has doubled since 1950
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 6th, 2013
Climate Central: As the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy approaches, a new study points to the rapidly escalating risk of Sandy-magnitude flooding events in the New York City area. The study, published Thursday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, found that sea level rise has already nearly doubled the annual probability of a Sandy-level flood in the New York City region since 1950.
Rising seas are a consequence of manmade global warming, as well as local shifts in land surface elevations. Sea...
Yosemite Fire an Example of How Droughts Amplify Wildfires
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on August 26th, 2013
Climate Central: The massive Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California is an example of how drought can amplify wildfires in a warming, drying West.
The fire, which now ranks as the 14th-largest wildfire in state history, has been racing through parched stands of oak and pine trees, and threatening some of the region's iconic giant sequoia trees. The vegetation in the area, and indeed across much of central and southern California, is extremely dry, as the state has experienced its driest year-to-date....
Incident Meteorologists Are on Front Lines of Wildfires
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 3rd, 2013
Climate Central: On Monday night, Jim Wallmann drove north from broiling Phoenix toward a bustling command post for the Yarnell Hill fire near Prescott, Ariz. The blaze had killed 19 of the 20-member crew of elite "Hotshots" a day earlier in the worst loss of firefighters in a single wildfire in 80 years. With erratic weather conditions viewed as the primary suspect behind the tragedy, Wallman had been called to the blaze specifically to prevent a repeat incident by keeping firefighters informed of changing weather...
The Climate Context Behind the Deadly Arizona Wildfire
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 1st, 2013
Climate Central: The deadly Yarnell Hill Fire continued to rage out of control on Monday, a day after the flames fanned by erratic winds and temperatures topping 100°F overwhelmed a team of elite firefighters, killing 19 of the 20-member crew. The fire has burned about 200 homes and has burned through at least 8,400 acres -- more than quadrupling in size since it began on June 28, according to news reports.
The deaths of the Prescott, Ariz.-based "Granite Mountain Hotshots' was the worst wildland firefighting...
As Calgary floods, scientists warn of rising risks
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on June 22nd, 2013
Climate Central: The normally tame Bow and Elbow Rivers that course their way through downtown Calgary, Alberta, have taken over the city, transforming Canada's fourth-largest city into North America's Venice. A slow-moving storm system, coming on top of an unusually wet spring, has produced massive flooding across southern Alberta, prompting tens of thousands to hastily evacuate sections of Calgary, and producing surreal images of the city's landmarks, such as the Calgary Stampede grounds, under several feet of...
In parched Southwest, anxious wait for summer rains
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on May 10th, 2013
Climate Central: On the thirsty rangelands of Arizona and New Mexico, which have been mired in an on-again, off-again drought since 1999, ranchers and water managers are hoping for an unusually wet summer monsoon season that will help make up for this winter's lackluster snowpack. Reservoirs have been depleted to near-record lows, and the major rivers and tributaries are running at barely a trickle, making the summer rainfall season crucial to avert potentially severe water shortages, at least temporarily.
However,...
Rare May snowstorm annihilates records in Midwest
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on May 4th, 2013
Climate Central: A late spring snowstorm in the Midwest has shattered longstanding state snowfall records, with all-time state records for the month of May falling in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The snowstorm, which walloped the region with snowfall rates of more than an inch per hour at times on May 1-2, delivered 18 inches of snow in Blooming Prairie, Minn., 17.5 inches in Goodhue, and 15.5 inches in Owatonna.
According to the Minnesota Climate Working Group, the state daily May snowfall record had stood...
Boost to Colorado Snowpack May Lessen Wildfire Risk
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on April 28th, 2013
Climate Central: As recently as late March it appeared that most of the West, including Colorado, was headed for a long, and tinderbox-dry spring and summer, with the effects of a long-running drought becoming ever more apparent in the form of dwindling water supplies and destructive wildfires. Many officials feared a repeat of last year's disastrous wildfire season, when Colorado saw its most destructive wildfire on record strike the Colorado Springs area.
And then winter finally arrived, in April, when the weather...