In 2011, a short but catastrophic cloudburst hammered Copenhagen, flooding parts of the Danish city with more than 5 inches of rain in a single day. The storm caused more than $1 billion in damages. It also catalyzed a transformation across the city. Officials spent the next decade implementing a matrix of green spaces and […]
At the end of May, eight endangered Asiatic lions died at a national park in India. Officials feared the animals had succumbed to a tick-borne parasitic disease that previously killed lions in the area. But over the weekend, the Gujarat government announced that the lions’ real killer was extreme heat, The Hindu reports. These casualties […]
More than 1.7 million people participated last week in the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia—consistently one of the world’s largest mass gatherings. Muslims are expected to perform Hajj at least once in their lives, but an increasingly perilous threat looms over the holy journey: heat. When the Hajj took place in mid-June […]
Extreme heat is one of the most dangerous climate change risks in the United Kingdom, according to a new government-backed report that warned the nation is “built for a climate that no longer exists.” Right after it came out, the U.K. recorded its hottest day on record for the month of May. The temperature at […]
An unrelenting wildfire has swallowed nearly a third of Santa Rosa Island, a small strip of land off the coast of California that is largely uninhabited by people but abundant with wildlife and plants, including several found nowhere else on Earth. The blaze, which started last Friday, is human-caused but its exact origin is still […]
Every one of the world’s 50 hottest cities was located inside India at the end of April—a global weather-tracking anomaly, according to a major air-quality monitoring platform. As an unusual early-season heat wave gripped the country, average peak temperatures across the most sweltering cities hit around 112 degrees Fahrenheit on April 27, data from the […]
Drought and fire are a dangerous duo. The Southeastern United States is witnessing this firsthand as several major blazes burn tens of thousands of acres across the parched region, destroying homes and prompting evacuations in some areas. Florida and Georgia have been particularly hard hit, and strong winds and unusually low humidity have made it […]
Anyone who has ever been told to lower their sodium intake knows they have to cut back on the usual salty suspects, from potato chips to deli meats. But the water you drink to wash down these snacks may also be part of the problem, experts say. Each year, widespread wastewater runoff, agriculture, oil extraction […]
It’s about to get hotter in our nation’s cities. Just how hot it gets depends not only on the weather, but also on infrastructure, working conditions and ZIP codes. When that heat bears down on cities, with all their steel-and-concrete infrastructure, it can create what scientists call an “urban heat island.” Under this phenomenon, concrete […]
The world’s forests are simultaneously climate powerhouses and victims, sucking carbon from the air while facing myriad global warming impacts—from wildfires to pest outbreaks. Recent research found that climate change is already driving widespread disturbances in European forests and, by the end of the century, will likely transform the landscapes that communities depend on. My […]
Officials were already sounding the alarm bells in early March across the Western United States after a winter with historically low snowpacks, which supplies water for communities as it slowly melts throughout the spring and summer. Then came the heat wave. As I reported last week, a high-pressure system brought early-season heat to the region, […]
Communities across the Western United States are in for another week of unusually high temperatures amid an ongoing and historic early-season heat wave. It has broken March temperature records in nearly 180 cities, including Phoenix, which hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit last Thursday. The National Weather Service forecasts more than 200 record-high temperatures this week, as […]
It’s been a weird few weeks for weather across the United States. While the West braces for the peak of a record-breaking heat wave, massive snowstorms and hail pummel several states in the Midwest. Meanwhile, communities in the Southeast and along the East Coast contend with severe storms that could trigger flooding and wind damage […]
After months of intense drought conditions, Kenya was inundated by rain late last week, triggering severe flooding that killed more than 40 people. In the country’s capital city, Nairobi, a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours. “The ongoing flooding in parts of Nairobi and several other areas of our country has caused immense […]
Just over a year ago, the Trump administration gutted staff across the National Park Service, triggering a series of protests around the country, a signal of the public’s deep passion for America’s “crown jewels.” Since then, the service has been in flux. Though a federal judge required the administration to rehire much of the staff […]
Stepping off the Q train at Prospect Park Station in Brooklyn, I winced at the screech and grumble of the subway. Car horns echoed from streets nearby and the weekend morning crowd of visitors chattered raucously—all typical sounds of New York City’s urban symphony. But as I took a moment to find the right exit, […]
Trying to buy a home comes with a seemingly endless list of things to consider: What’s the commute to work like? Can you qualify for a mortgage? Will the small kitchen drive you crazy? But climate change is throwing a snag in one of the most important considerations during the home-buying process—location. With catastrophic wildfires, […]