• TEXAS WILDFIRESHow Climate Change Primed Texas to Burn

    By Naveena Sadasivam

    Over the past 10 days, five wildfires in the region have burned more than 1.2 million acres. The largest of them — dubbed the Smokehouse Creek Fire, for a creek near its origin — stretches across an area larger than Rhode Island. The state’s high plains get a month more fire weather now than they did in the 1970s.

  • TEXAS WILDFIRESTexas Requires Utilities to Plan for Emergencies. That Didn’t Stop the Panhandle Fires.

    By Emily Foxhall

    Experts say utilities need to be ready for extreme weather, which could be a challenge in a state where discussing climate change is often taboo. A review of portions of the state’s electricity code shows utilities have to plan for maintaining their equipment and responding in emergencies, but how they do so is largely left to the companies.

  • FLOODSAir Pollution Hides Increases in Rainfall

    By Lauren Biron

    For much of the last century, the drying effect of aerosols has masked increases in rainfall from greenhouse gases – but as aerosol emissions diminish, average and extreme rains may ramp up.

  • NUCLEAR RISKSDecades After the U.S. Buried Nuclear Waste Abroad, Climate Change Could Unearth It

    By Anita Hofschneider

    A new report says melting ice sheets and rising seas could disturb waste from U.S. nuclear projects in Greenland and the Marshall Islands

  • RESILIENCEReport Details 2023 State Policy Trends in Disaster Resilience

    By Lucia Bragg

    As the world continues to grapple with the growing impacts of climate change, we will need to take clear steps to reduce the consequences of ongoing and forecasted catastrophes. It is important to understand what is happening at the state level and how climate adaptation and disaster resilience priorities are appearing in state laws that govern our approaches and underwrite our resilience efforts.

  • DISASTERSClusters of Atmospheric Rivers Amp Up California Storm Damages

    By Laura Castañón

    When multiple atmospheric rivers hit California back-to-back, the economic damage from resulting rain and snowfall is three to four times higher than predicted from individual storms, a Stanford study finds. The insight could help water managers and disaster planners better prepare for future impacts of climate change.

  • CLIMATE CHALLENGESInvestors Are “Flying Blind” to Risk of Climate Lawsuits

    Polluting companies could be liable for trillions in damages from climate lawsuits. But few investors and regulators are taking these risks into account when evaluating companies’ climate-related financial risks. Experts call for an overhaul in how climate litigation risks are assessed and provides a new framework for doing so.

     

  • COASTAL CHALLENGEFrom New York to Jakarta, Land in Many Coastal Cities Is Sinking Faster Than Sea Levels Are Rising

    By Pei-Chin Wu, Meng (Matt) Wei, and Steven D’Hondt

    Sea level rise has already put coastal cities on notice thanks to increasing storm surges and even sunny day flooding at high tide. These challenges will continue to grow because global projections point to a mean sea level rise of at least one foot above year-2000 levels in a few decades. many cities are facing another factor making them even more vulnerable to rising waters: land subsidence.

  • FLOODSPredicting Flood Risk from Hurricanes in a Warming Climate

    By Jennifer Chu

    Coastal cities and communities will face more frequent major hurricanes with climate change in the coming years. Using New York as a test case, a model developed by MIT scientists predicts flooding at the level experienced during Hurricane Sandy will occur roughly every 30 years by the end of this century.

  • WATER SECURITYGroundwater Levels Are Falling Worldwide — but There Are Solutions

    By Jake Bittle

    The world’s groundwater aquifers are taking a beating. Decades of unrestrained pumping by thirsty farms and fast-growing cities have drained these underground rock beds, which hold more than 95 percent of the planet’s drinkable water. New research shows how to protect the aquifers that hold most of the world’s fresh water.

  • DISASTERSExtreme Weather Cost $80 Billion in 2023. The True Price Is Far Higher.

    By Jake Bittle

    The U.S. saw 25 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2023 — more than ever before. 2024 could be worse. Congress has long punted on reforming FEMA and the nation’s disaster relief policy, but it’s only a matter of time before there’s a disaster bad enough that legislators feel pressure to act. That catastrophe didn’t arrive in in 2023, but it is surely coming.

  • DISASTERSNumber of People Affected by Tropical Cyclones Has Increased Sharply Since 2002

    The number of people affected by tropical cyclones has nearly doubled from 2002 to 2019, reaching nearly 800 million people in 2019, according to a new study. More people are affected by tropical cyclones in Asia than any other region, but every affected world region saw an increase in the number of people exposed to tropical cyclones, which are expected to become more intense and possibly more frequent as the climate warms.

  • FLOODSFuture Floods: Global Warming Intensifies Heavy Rain – Even More Than Expected

    The intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall increases exponentially with global warming, a new study finds. The study shows that state-of-the-art climate models significantly underestimate how much extreme rainfall increases under global warming – meaning that extreme rainfall could increase quicker than climate models suggest.

  • COASTAL CHALLENGESIn Coastal Communities, Sea Level Rise May Leave Some Isolated

    By Tatyana Woodall

    Amid the threat of dramatic sea level rise, coastal communities face unprecedented dangers, but a new study reveals that as flooding intensifies, disadvantaged populations will be the ones to experience some of the most severe burdens of climate change.

  • DOOMSDAYEvolution Might Stop Humans from Solving Climate Change

    Central features of human evolution may stop our species from resolving global environmental problems like climate change, says a new study. Can humans continue to survive on a limited planet? “We don’t have any solutions for this idea of a long-term evolutionary trap, as we barely understand the problem,” says one expert.