Astonishing warmth in Siberia helped propel global average surface temperatures to a record high during May, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a science division of the European Union.In addition, the January through May period was the second-warmest such period on record since at least 1979, scientists found. This is likely to be confirmed in coming days by other science agencies whose data extends back to the late 19th century, such as NASA.Globally, May was 1.13 degrees (0.63 degrees Celsius) above average compared with average May temperatures from 1981-2010, beating...…Astonishing warmth in Siberia helped propel global average surface temperatures to a record high during May, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a science division of the European Union.In addition, the January through May period was the second-warmest such period on record since at least 1979, scientists found. This is likely to be confirmed in coming days by other science agencies whose data extends back to the late 19th century, such as NASA.Globally, May was 1.13 degrees (0.63 degrees Celsius) above average compared with average May temperatures from 1981-2010, beating...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift Share(This article, first published on Monday afternoon, was updated Tuesday midday.)A nearly 4,000-mile-long plume of thick dust from the Sahara Desert that arrived in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba is forecast to move into the Gulf of Mexico, inland from Texas to the lower Mississippi River Valley Thursday and Friday, before reaching Washington this weekend.The plume is part of a phenomena that develops every year off the coast of Africa, known as the Saharan Air Layer (SAL), but the current one is unusually intense and is...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift Share(This article, first published on Monday afternoon, was updated Tuesday midday.)A nearly 4,000-mile-long plume of thick dust from the Sahara Desert that arrived in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba is forecast to move into the Gulf of Mexico, inland from Texas to the lower Mississippi River Valley Thursday and Friday, before reaching Washington this weekend.The plume is part of a phenomena that develops every year off the coast of Africa, known as the Saharan Air Layer (SAL), but the current one is unusually intense and is...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAn investigation conducted on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that agency leadership violated its scientific integrity policy through actions that led to the release of a that backed President Trump’s false statement about the path of Hurricane Dorian, according a new report.The NOAA statement, issued Sept. 6, 2019, contradicted its own meteorologists at a weather forecast office in Birmingham, Ala.The scandal over the forecast for Hurricane Dorian has come to be known as...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAn investigation conducted on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that agency leadership violated its scientific integrity policy through actions that led to the release of a that backed President Trump’s false statement about the path of Hurricane Dorian, according a new report.The NOAA statement, issued Sept. 6, 2019, contradicted its own meteorologists at a weather forecast office in Birmingham, Ala.The scandal over the forecast for Hurricane Dorian has come to be known as...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareA new study provides observational evidence that the odds of major hurricanes around the world — Category 3, 4 and 5 storms — are increasing because of human-caused global warming. The implications of this finding, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are far-reaching for coastal residents, insurers and policymakers, as the most intense hurricanes cause the most damage.The study, by a group of researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Wisconsin at Madison,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareA new study provides observational evidence that the odds of major hurricanes around the world — Category 3, 4 and 5 storms — are increasing because of human-caused global warming. The implications of this finding, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are far-reaching for coastal residents, insurers and policymakers, as the most intense hurricanes cause the most damage.The study, by a group of researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Wisconsin at Madison,...WW…

This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareAs cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, rapidly increase in the United States and other parts of the world, epidemiologists and other researchers are urgently trying to learn more about the pathogen involved. One question that some virus specialists, and some meteorologists, are asking is whether there may be a seasonal aspect to this outbreak.In other words, is this more like the flu, which has a distinct winter peak in the United States and Europe and then ebbs for the spring and summer? Or is...…This article was published more than 3 years agoCommentGift ShareAs cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, rapidly increase in the United States and other parts of the world, epidemiologists and other researchers are urgently trying to learn more about the pathogen involved. One question that some virus specialists, and some meteorologists, are asking is whether there may be a seasonal aspect to this outbreak.In other words, is this more like the flu, which has a distinct winter peak in the United States and Europe and then ebbs for the spring and summer? Or is...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHow many times in recent years do you recall ambling outside in 70-degree weather totally bewildered during the winter months?Thanks mostly to a combination of human-caused climate change and urbanization, winters in Washington are warming hastily and taking on an entirely new character. Our winter climate is on a southbound journey, with nothing in the way.Over the past five decades, the region has seen winter average temperatures increase between three and five degrees.Based on from the University of Maryland Center for...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHow many times in recent years do you recall ambling outside in 70-degree weather totally bewildered during the winter months?Thanks mostly to a combination of human-caused climate change and urbanization, winters in Washington are warming hastily and taking on an entirely new character. Our winter climate is on a southbound journey, with nothing in the way.Over the past five decades, the region has seen winter average temperatures increase between three and five degrees.Based on from the University of Maryland Center for...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareDavid Legates, a meteorologist who claims that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is good for plants and that global warming is harmless, has been tapped to run the federal agency that oversees a major scientific report on how climate change is affecting the United States.Legates, a controversial figure who joined the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in September, will move to a new slot as head of the U.S. Global Change Research Program as early as Thursday, according to two people familiar...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareDavid Legates, a meteorologist who claims that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is good for plants and that global warming is harmless, has been tapped to run the federal agency that oversees a major scientific report on how climate change is affecting the United States.Legates, a controversial figure who joined the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in September, will move to a new slot as head of the U.S. Global Change Research Program as early as Thursday, according to two people familiar...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareEarly in the new administration, the White House wanted a big win for President Trump on one of his top campaign promises — getting rid of poor performers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.Scott Foster got the order from his boss, a senior political appointee: Draw up a list of underachievers and give “your best 10” so the president could announce their firing at a signing ceremony for a law allowing fast dismissals at VA.Foster, a seasoned personnel official, balked. The employees still had the right to due process,...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareEarly in the new administration, the White House wanted a big win for President Trump on one of his top campaign promises — getting rid of poor performers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.Scott Foster got the order from his boss, a senior political appointee: Draw up a list of underachievers and give “your best 10” so the president could announce their firing at a signing ceremony for a law allowing fast dismissals at VA.Foster, a seasoned personnel official, balked. The employees still had the right to due process,...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIt was all hands on deck at Cal Fire’s headquarters in Sacramento on Saturday, where the agency’s top lawyer was pitching in answering phones.“I can’t sit at home and watch what’s going on. I have to do something,” said chief counsel Bruce Crane, 61, who was a firefighter in the 1980s. Back then, he and his colleagues thought a 50,000-acre fire was big, so the current 314,207-acre fire across Napa, Lake, Solano and Sonoma counties is “just mind-bogglingly huge,” Crane said.The heat wave and lightning-sparked barrage of...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareIt was all hands on deck at Cal Fire’s headquarters in Sacramento on Saturday, where the agency’s top lawyer was pitching in answering phones.“I can’t sit at home and watch what’s going on. I have to do something,” said chief counsel Bruce Crane, 61, who was a firefighter in the 1980s. Back then, he and his colleagues thought a 50,000-acre fire was big, so the current 314,207-acre fire across Napa, Lake, Solano and Sonoma counties is “just mind-bogglingly huge,” Crane said.The heat wave and lightning-sparked barrage of...WW…

Senate Energy Committee chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is urging President Biden to marshal executive powers to help boost U.S. oil production following the OPEC+ move to cut output. Driving the news: Manchin, in a new letter, calls the OPEC+ move "reckless" and a revenue boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime. But he also argues Biden should not look to tap more barrels from authoritarian states. "I am disheartened by reporting which suggests OPEC+’s actions may drive your administration to seek to unlock sanctioned oil production from Iran or Venezuela," Manchin writes. The...…Senate Energy Committee chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is urging President Biden to marshal executive powers to help boost U.S. oil production following the OPEC+ move to cut output. Driving the news: Manchin, in a new letter, calls the OPEC+ move "reckless" and a revenue boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime. But he also argues Biden should not look to tap more barrels from authoritarian states. "I am disheartened by reporting which suggests OPEC+’s actions may drive your administration to seek to unlock sanctioned oil production from Iran or Venezuela," Manchin writes. The...WW…