• Damaging Thunderstorm Winds Increasing in Central U.S.

    Destructive winds that flow out of thunderstorms in the central United States are becoming more widespread with warming temperatures. The central U.S. experienced a fivefold increase in the geographic area affected by damaging thunderstorm straight line winds in the past 40 years.

  • Climate Change Is a National Security Risk

    Climate change is affecting practically everything on Earth, from natural systems to human endeavors. National security is no exception. The U.S. Defense Department recognizes that climate change is a “threat multiplier” as it exacerbates existing environmental stresses and security risks.

  • Innovative Way to Predict Saltwater Intrusion into Groundwater

    Working closely with local conservation group, researchers develop new model to predict climate-change driven saltwater intrusion that is transferable to other vulnerable coastal communities.

  • Colorado Prisons Vulnerable to Natural Disasters but May Be Ill-Prepared

    Three-quarters of Colorado prisons are likely to experience a natural disaster in the coming years, but due to aging infrastructure and outdated policies, many are ill-equipped to keep residents safe.

  • New Zealand: Firm Found Guilty Over Volcano Disaster

    The court said Whakaari Management failed to sufficiently “assess risk” to visitors or provide them with protective gear, leading to the death of 22 people.

  • States Working to Safeguard America’s Most Important River

    Political leaders in the Mississippi River area are looking to form a multistate compact to manage threats from climate change, water pollution and drought-affected regions elsewhere. Twenty million people drink from the Mississippi River and its tributaries every day, and the river has led to more than 350,000 jobs and generates more than $21 billion in annual tourism, fishing and recreation spending.

  • Floridians Believe in Climate Change, Want Government Action

    The latest edition of the Florida Climate Resilience Survey found that 90 percent of Floridians believe climate change is happening, a higher figure than in the nation as a whole: a recent Yale University survey found that 74 percent of Americans as a whole think climate change is happening.

  • How Big Institutions Stymie Disaster Response, and What to Do About It

    Large institutions like government, the private sector, non-profits, and academia, are unprepared for disasters—both natural and human-created—because their incentives are not well-aligned.

  • Floods Kill Long After the Water Has Gone

    People impacted by a flooding event are at significantly increased risk of dying – including heart and lung problems – in a crucial window between three and six weeks after the event, even after the flooding has dissipated.

  • Residents Unprepared for Wildland Fires, Face Barriers in Implementing Prevention Measures

    Individual and social factors contribute to lack of preparedness, despite many available residential wildfire mitigation and educational programs.

  • Arizona Is Evicting a Saudi Alfalfa Farm, but the Thirsty Crop Isn’t Going Anywhere

    As Arizona struggles to adapt to a water shortage that has dried out farms and scuttled development plans, one company has emerged as a central villain. The agricultural company Fondomonte, which is owned by a Saudi Arabian conglomerate, has attracted criticism over the past several years for sucking up the state’s groundwater to grow alfalfa and then exporting that alfalfa to feed cows overseas. Now Arizona has cancelled one of the company’s leases and says it will not renew the others, but the decision will do little to solve a water shortage largely driven by irrigated agriculture.

  • Hurricane Ian Stirred Up Flesh-Eating Bacteria in Florida

    Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm in September last year, killing 149 people — the most deaths attributable to a single hurricane in the state in nearly a century. But the official death count didn’t include one of the most gruesome ways people died as a result of the storm: The state saw its highest number of vibriosis cases in more than 30 years.

  • Little Improvement in Mandated Disaster plans, Despite Required Updates

    Hurricanes, floods, heat waves and other disasters are striking the United States with increased severity and frequency, and since 2000 the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act has required states and local jurisdictions to have plans in place to reduce damages from such events. There has been only little improvement over time to these plans, in spite of regularly required updates.

  • Testing Seafloor Fiber Optic Cable as an Earthquake Early Warning System

    One of the biggest challenges for earthquake early warning systems (EEW) is the lack of seismic stations located offshore of heavily populated coastlines, where some of the world’s most seismically active regions are located. Researchers show how unused telecommunications fiber optic cable can be transformed for offshore EEW.

  • In Wildfire-Prone Areas, Homeowners Are Learning They’re Uninsurable

    Wildfires cause billions in home damage every year – and they are not only a problem in the U.S. West. Close to a quarter of the Americans now at risk of catastrophic wildfires live in the eastern half of the country, in places that may not be prepared to respond. Now, insurers no longer want to take on the risk.