Climate change is expected to intensify fire-friendly weather conditions across the US and to lengthen the fire season.
The monthly climate outlook for June favors more heat for Alaska and the West, more rain for Texas and the East.
From soybeans and sunflowers in North Dakota to cotton and winter wheat in Texas, large stretches of croplands in the U.S. Great Plains rely exclusively on rain. Those croplands are likely to face longer dry spells by mid-century.
A new analysis suggests that in the winter following a La Niña, dryness in California often deepens into drought. Consistent with that pattern, California’s current drought began in 2011-12, during the second year of a La Niña episode.
A drought in the Southeast in 2011 gave cotton growers and consumers a preview of what could become a more common scenario for the main ingredient of our most comfortable clothes.
Spring Outlook 2015
March 13, 2015
Maps and images from NOAA's online sea level rise viewer helped city officials in Tybee Island, Georgia, raise awareness of the city's vulnerabilities and set priorities for adaption efforts.
Warmer winters or hotter summers: which will have greater influence on U.S. energy demands this century?
Winter Outlook 2014-2015
October 15, 2014
In the Northeast, the amount of rain that came down in very heavy events increased by more than 70 percent between 1958 and 2010. A new law in New York requires state agencies to start thinking ahead about increases in extreme rain and other climate change risks.