Observing & Predicting
February 27, 2015NASA ice expert Claire Parkinson does the math on global sea ice and confirms that small gains around Antarctica do not cancel out large losses in the Arctic.
February 20, 2015One of nature’s truly awe-inspiring creations, caves and the unique rock formations inside them are not only breathtaking but are also natural recorders of climate.
February 17, 2015In addition to its primary mission of observing space weather, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite is carrying two instruments that are important to climate science: the NISTAR radiometer and the EPIC camera.
February 11, 2015Thanks to back-to-back storms over the last month, most of the Midwest and North-Atlantic regions are covered by snow. But when was the last time there was snow on the ground in all fifty states—even our most tropical destinations, Florida and Hawaii?
February 2, 2015Already a threat to fish, mussels, and other marine creatures, low-oxygen “dead zones” are expected to increase in both size and number as greenhouse gas concentrations and global temperatures continue to rise.
January 27, 2015A major winter storm was still blustering its way through the U.S. Northeast this morning, with continued snow accumulations and high winds predicted for many areas. How will this event compare to the region’s most historic storms?
January 23, 2015Ocean scientists have designed a new aquatic robot that can go where they suspect some of the heat energy from global warming is hiding: in the abyss.
January 20, 2015(animation) Decades ago, the majority of the Arctic's winter ice pack was made up of thick, perennial ice. Today, very old ice is extremely rare.
January 16, 2015Observations of global temperature going back to 1880 reveal that our planet's temperature is rising. This animation shows maps of yearly temperature compared to the 1981-2010 average from the start of the historical record through 2014--the wamrest year on record. Each year's map is synced with a graph showing the evolution of our planet's temperature as compared to the 20th-century average.
January 15, 2015Earth’s surface temperature in 2014 was the warmest on record. Five months set new records for warmth, and a sixth tied for record warmest.
January 14, 2015Fish nursery. Bird sanctuary. Storm surge blocker. Maryland’s Blackwater Marsh Wildlife Refuge is all those things and more. And it could be completely underwater by the end of this century. A team of ecologists and climate experts is determined to find and conserve migration corridors for the critical wetland ecosystem.
January 7, 2015(animation) The Lower 48 United States was 0.5°F above average in 2014, making it the 34th warmest year in the historical record (1895-2014). It was the 18th year in a row with above-average temperature.
December 22, 2014Just for fun, we asked the experts at the Rutgers Snow Lab to show us what their data (based on NOAA satellite images) had to say about whether the number of snow-covered days during the week of Christmas has changed at all across the U.S. in the past 50 years.
December 17, 2014April snow extent was record low across Europe and Asia, and in June, the entire Northern Hemisphere was below average for the tenth year in a row. Spring snow is disappearing even more rapidly than Arctic sea ice in summer.
December 16, 2014Sea ice changes are key to polar bear health and numbers. Only one of the evaluated groups is increasing. Several are stable; a few are already declining
December 16, 2014Punctuating a trend of declining reflectivity, the Greenland Ice Sheet reflected less sunlight in August 2014 than it did in any previous summer on record.
December 16, 2014Compared to 2012’s extreme warmth, surface water temperatures were more moderate in summer 2014. Nevertheless, pockets of very warm temperatures existed.
December 10, 2014The latest installment of NOAA's Arctic Report Card confirms that Arctic air temperatures are rising at more than twice the rate of the planet as a whole. This collection of images highlights some of the key changes in physical and biological conditions in the Far North.
December 5, 2014A worldwide network of Argo floats gives scientists an unprecedented understanding of the ocean depths. Argo floats descend and ascend through the top 2,000 meters of the ocean, collecting observations as they move.
November 25, 2014Warmer winters or hotter summers: which will have greater influence on U.S. energy demands this century?
November 18, 2014For some states, the coldest day of the year usually occurs near the start of winter, while for others it comes near the end. This map reveals when history says your state will have its coldest day of the year.
October 28, 2014The Antarctic ozone hole did not cause global warming. But there is a connection between climate and the annual thin spot that forms each spring in Earth’s UV-blocking ozone layer: colder winter temperatures tend to lead to larger ozone holes.
October 24, 2014We're nine laps into the race to set a new global annual temperature record. NOAA climate scientist Deke Arndt talks about how this year's race might end--and why yearly rankings tell us less about the big picture of climate change than we might think.
October 20, 2014NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center announced that last month was the warmest September on record for the planet. If the surface temperature remains elevated at the same level for the remainder of the year, 2014 will set a new record for the warmest annual average temperature since records began in 1880.
October 15, 2014The spotlight may have been on California this past summer, but groundwater reservoirs—often the back-up for surface water supplies during prolonged drought—are in decline across much of the southern United States. Meanwhile, people are using millions of gallons of water per day in regions dependent on groundwater aquifers
October 15, 2014(Video) The Climate Prediction Center's outlook for December through February gives California a 2-in-3 chance of receiving normal precipitation or better. Cool, wet conditions are favored in some southern regions, while warm weather is favored to the west, including Alaska and Hawaii.
October 14, 2014Warm oceans lead to record September warmth for Alaska maritime locations.
October 10, 2014Florida's humid climate is a major headache for strawberry growers. An alert system that warns of fungus-friendly weather conditions has reduced costs and risks associated with unnecessary chemical spraying.
October 7, 2014Antarctic sea ice extent set a new record high for daily extent on September 22, 2014. Climate scientists suspect the new record is linked to strong winds and melting ice shelves.
September 23, 2014The annual minimum was 5.02 million square kilometers (1.94 million square miles), making 2014 the sixth smallest extent in the satellite era, which began in 1979.
September 22, 2014August 2014's globally averaged surface temperature and sea surface temperatures both set new records.
September 17, 2014Natural variability can explain much of Earth's average temperature variation since the end of the last ice age, but over the past century, global average temperature has risen from near the coldest to the warmest levels in the past 11,300 years.
September 16, 2014Temperature extremes have been pretty unusual across the United States so far in 2014. Looking back over this time period quickly reveals at least part of what was going on: the polar jet stream got into a serious rut.
September 10, 2014Flash floods scoured Phoenix and surrounding areas on September 8, 2014. How did the rainfall totals compare to normal September precipitation?
September 8, 2014It's the time of year for potentially toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie. But the stage for most blooms is set in spring.
September 4, 2014On July 11, Lake Mead reached its lowest water level since construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s. Many scientists are concerned that the prolonged drought could be a sign that the region will face significant water supply challenges due to climate change.
September 3, 2014Drought in the far West and the southern portion of the Great Plains—regions that are already experiencing extreme and exceptional drought—will likely continue or worsen through September.
August 29, 2014Never in the historical record have such large areas of the country experienced such radically different temperature extremes as they have so far in 2014.
August 27, 2014Since we last covered the California drought, conditions in the state have stayed, well, dry—very dry. Statewide, total precipitation is about equal to or below the lowest three-year period since 1895.
August 21, 2014More than halfway through August, the Atlantic Ocean has seen just two named storms. Despite the availability of heat energy at the sea's surface, atmospheric conditions have not been favorable for storm development.
August 19, 2014Despite uncertainties around future precipitation change, it is clear that as temperatures rise in Colorado, the state is expected to face significant challenges to managing water resources, according to a new report.
August 4, 2014As sea level has changed, so has the way we measure it. Here’s a look at some of the technologies climate and marine scientists have used to track Earth’s tides and global sea level over the past two centuries.
July 28, 2014Across the globe, changes in salinity over time generally match changes in precipitation: places where rainfall declines become saltier, while places where rainfall increases become fresher. Where did saltiness change over the past decade?
July 28, 2014Through June, the eastern Pacific was warmer than average, but the lack of a strong gradient in sea surface temperature anomalies between the eastern and western Pacific may have kept the atmosphere from getting in sync with the developing El Niño.
July 23, 2014Hot on the heels of a new record set in May, average global temperature also reached a record high in June 2014.
July 15, 2014As the assessment now known as the BAMS State of the Climate report pushes into its third decade, international participation is at an all-time high. From atmospheric chemists to tropical meteorologists, more than 420 authors from institutions in 57 countries contributed to this year’s report.
July 13, 2014The annual average concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere stood at 395.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2013—a 27 percent increase compared to conditions before the Industrial Revolution. On May 9, 2013, the daily average concentration of CO2 surpassed 400 ppm for the first time at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
July 12, 2014Observing temperature patterns in the lower stratosphere gives scientists clues about our planet’s changing climate. Global average temperatures in the lower stratosphere for 2013 were slightly below the 1981–2010 average.
July 12, 2014The globally averaged sea surface temperature in 2013 was among the 10 highest on record, with the North Pacific reaching an historic high temperature. ENSO-neutral conditions and a negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation pattern had the largest impacts on global sea surface temperature in 2013.
July 12, 2014Large-scale patterns of sea surface salinity in 2013 mirrored the overall trend seen from 2004 to 2013: salty, dry areas are becoming increasingly salty, and fresher areas are becoming increasingly fresh.
July 12, 2014Upper ocean heat content has increased significantly over the past two decades. An estimated 70 percent of the excess heat has accumulated in the top 2,000 feet of the ocean, and the rest has flowed into deeper ocean layers.
July 12, 2014In 2012—for the 23rd consecutive year—mountain glaciers worldwide lost more mass through melting than they gained through new snow accumulation. The retreat of the majority of mountain glaciers worldwide is one of the clearest signs that climate is warming over the long term.
July 12, 20142013 continued a trend of water vapor in the surface atmosphere increasing over land and ocean relative to the 1970s, while the atmosphere over land becomes less saturated.
July 12, 2014In 2013, global average sea level was 1.5 inches above the 1993-2010 average, which is the highest yearly average in the satellite record (1993-present). Overall, sea level continues to rise at a rate of one-eighth of an inch per year.
July 12, 2014Arctic sea ice extent shrunk down to 2.0 million square miles (5.1 million square kilometers) in September 2013—18 percent below the 1981-2010 average, but larger than record low set in 2012.
July 12, 2014While the Northern Hemisphere’s snow cover on land ranked as the 13th most extensive on record in 2013, snow cover extent at the end of the cold season has dropped by 19.9 percent per decade since 1979 relative to the 1981-2010 average.
July 12, 2014Globally-averaged surface temperature for 2013 was 0.36 - 0.38° Fahrenheit above the 1981–2010 average, placing it among the top 10 warmest years since record-keeping began.
July 11, 2014From the strongest typhoon ever observed to historically high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, the State of the Climate in 2013 report provides a complete rundown on the state of Earth's climate and how it is changing.
July 10, 2014Why on Earth are climate scientists so interested in the West Antarctic ice sheet? This remote region of the seventh continent has been the subject of many recent research explorations--the results of which have been described in the news with words like “collapse,” “irreversible,” and “huge.”
June 26, 2014Last summer, climate conditions were primed to deliver an above-average—possibly very active—hurricane season in the Atlantic. And then...? The 2013 Atlantic Hurricane season produced the fewest number of hurricanes since 1982. What happened?
June 13, 2014In the midst of a drought in 2008, biologists discovered dead Coho and steelhead trout in a tributary of the Russian River. When the dust settled, the focus turned to how winegrowers and other water users could reduce their impact. The event provided the parties involved—winegrowers, conservationists, and the water agency—an opportunity to find common ground in the realm of science.
June 10, 2014Add a new item to the list of things that have migrated in response to climate change: the latitude where hurricanes reach their maximum intensity. The shift was accompanied by increasing vertical wind shear near the equator.
June 5, 2014On August 25, 2011, Dr. Elwynn Taylor, Iowa State University’s Extension Climatologist, tweeted to Iowa corn farmers: “Weather based statistics indicate a US corn yield of 149BPA, the prime factor this year is the Aridity Index.” Taylor uses NOAA climate information and seasonal outlooks to help thousands of the region’s farmers manage risk. Nearly 5,000 followers look to his Twitter feed for guidance.
June 2, 2014Since 2004, researchers in NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division have released the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index: a single value that compares the total warming effect of each year's concentrations of heat-trapping gases to 1990 levels.
May 30, 2014In response to recent decades' warming, forests in the eastern United States have been "inhaling" more carbon dioxide through photosynthesis than they've “exhaled” through respiration.
May 22, 2014In April 2011, Texas was in the midst of what may have been its worst fire season in history. As the season began, NOAA outlooks and observations helped fire managers think strategically about where their resources could be most effective.
May 22, 2014CarbonTracker is a tool for modelling sources and sinks of carbon dioxide. Users can download the code, carbon dioxide data, and the tool's carbon flux estimates to conduct their own analyses or to help improve the system.
May 15, 2014Variability in snowpack across the mountain ranges of the U.S. West at the start of the warm season can translate into big differences in fire risk and summer water stress.
May 8, 2014Ocean water acidified by increasing carbon dioxide is corroding calcium carbonate minerals—an essential ingredient for shell- and skeleton-building that creatures like this tiny snail rely upon.
May 1, 2014Like a prehistoric fly trapped in amber during dinosaurs' days, airborne relics of Earth's earlier climate can end up trapped in glacial ice for eons. How do climate scientists turn those tiny relics into a story about Earth's ancient climate?
May 1, 2014Drought conditions across a large swath of the Western United States are unlikely to improve during May, according to the Monthly Drought Outlook from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
April 28, 2014Research oceanographer Jonathan Hare answers questions about the first application of a new protocol for assessing the vulnerability of Northeast fisheries to climate change.
April 25, 2014A pool of warm water lurking beneath the surface of the western Pacific has been slowly sloshing eastward in the past few months. This traveling wave of warm water is one of the signs that climate conditions are favorable for the emergence of El Niño later this year.
April 15, 2014Atmospheric rivers are the source of 30-50 percent of precipitation along the U.S. West Coast, and they are a major driver of the region's most serious floods. But the events are also called “drought busters” because, as these maps from 2010 show, just one or two storms can help replenish the water system during dry spells.
April 9, 2014(VIDEO) Visualizing data makes it easier to understand exactly how an extreme weather event affected people’s lives, livelihoods, and property and how those things could be affected in the future. Knowing how to access and analyze the wide variety of datasets needed to study those events can be a challenge, however. NOAA's Weather and Climate Toolkit makes the job easier.
April 9, 2014The International Academy of the Digital Arts & Sciences has chosen us as one of five nominees for the annual Webby Awards for online excellence. Please consider voting us for the People's Voice Award!
Vote for us in the Government category, and vote for the "Teaching Climate" section in the Green category.
April 7, 2014A few storms found their way to the drought-stricken California coast late this winter, but they barely made a dent in the state's huge water deficits. As the North Pacific winter storm season recedes, there is little likelihood for substantial drought recovery.
April 3, 2014It’s finally here! Yesterday, scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced the ultimate sign of spring: Arctic sea ice reached its winter peak on March 21, 2014, and the annual melt season is underway.
March 31, 2014Federal law may protect the river habitat in the name of endangered fish, but on land, grapevines are king. This article is the first in a two-part series about how scientists are helping find compromise amid local tensions over water supplies.
March 26, 2014How much sunlight Earth reflects naturally varies a lot. The bigger the range of natural variability, the greater the odds that any evidence of a manmade effort to brighten up the planet would be lost in the “background noise.”
March 19, 2014Climate change is a global phenomenon, affecting weather events around the world.
March 18, 2014If mid-century projections of sea level rise prove true for New York City, four times as many people may be living in the 100-year floodplain than were previously estimated based only on observed changes.
March 14, 2014Average temperatures across the contiguous United States in February ranged from frigid to balmy.
March 7, 2014In October 2003, a little-known think tank in the Department of Defense quietly released a report warning that climate change could happen so suddenly it could pose a major threat to our country's national security. Why was the Pentagon worried about abrupt climate change? Because new evidence from Greenland showed it had happened before.
March 5, 2014Working with private companies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency uses precipitation data from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center as part of an insurance program for ranchers and those who grow hay or other livestock forage. This video describes how it works.
March 4, 2014According to the 2009 National Climate Assessment, heavy downpours have increased in frequency and intensity during the last 50 years. Models predict that downpours will become still more more frequent and intense as greenhouse gas emissions and the planet’s temperature continue to rise.
February 27, 2014Although you might have a hard time convincing residents of the eastern United States, Scandinavia, and Russia (outside of Sochi, anyway), January’s global average surface temperature balance
February 26, 2014Persistent cold temperatures in the Midwest this winter almost completely frozen over many of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) reported that 88 percent of the Great Lakes were frozen as of mid-February.
February 18, 2014The historic rainfall that flooded the Colorado Front Range in September 2013 did little to dampen drought in the state's southeastern plains.
February 12, 2014Water resources manager Laura Briefer describes how Salt Lake City’s Department of Public Utilities is using climate information to help plan for the city’s future.
February 10, 2014Sochi will be among the warmest cities to have hosted a Winter Olympic Games. Climate change could make many previous Olympic cities unsuitable for Winter Games by the end of the century.
February 7, 2014Maps of precipitation deficits through January show California mountain areas generally have greater deficits than lower elevations, and Southern California with larger deficits than areas to the north. The drought outlook for February remained grim.
January 30, 2014The WestMap climate analysis and mapping toolbox is an interactive, web-based tool that helps users see the climate conditions that underlie droughts, storms, floods, and changes in streamflow.
January 28, 2014As climate changes in the Great Lakes region, the popular yellow perch–which some consider the ultimate pan-fried fish–may become much less common, potentially forcing consumers to adopt new traditions.
January 24, 2014Concentration of carbon dioxide is about 1.4 times what it was before the Industrial Revolution. How much and how fast will Earth warm if carbon dioxide concentrations double the pre-industrial?
January 22, 2014Among the questions triggered by the entrapment of a Russian ship near Antarctica on Christmas Eve were whether the ice conditions were out of the ordinary, and, if so, whether long-term climate change was playing a role.
January 21, 2014ANIMATION: The globally averaged temperature for 2013 tied as the fourth warmest year since record keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA scientists. It was the 37th consecutive year with a global temperature above the 20th-century average. This animation starts with the 2013 difference from average temperature and continues through monthly temperature anomaliies for January-December.
January 20, 2014The Arctic Oscillation describes simultaneous, geographically “choreographed” shifts in multiple features of the polar vortex: air pressure, temperature, and the location and strength of the jet stream. They all follow the hemisphere-wide oscillation of atmospheric mass back and forth between the Arctic and the middle latitudes, sort of like water sloshing in a bowl.
January 10, 2014A few days of unusually cold weather in the U.S. and Canada aren't a sign that a century-or-more trend of rising global surface temperatures has reversed itself. In fact, the cold wasn't even all that widespread for the Northern Hemisphere.
January 8, 2014Meteorologists have known for years that the pattern of the polar vortex determines how much cold air escapes from the Arctic and makes its way to the U.S. during the winter. Climate scientists are wondering if a warmer Arctic could explain its odd behavior in recent years.
December 19, 2013While much of the United States was cooler than average in November, the globe as a whole set a new record for warmth.
December 13, 2013(Video) Thick, old ice used to dominate the winter ice pack in the Arctic. This animation of maps of sea ice age from 1987 through end of October 2013 shows how little old ice is left in the Arctic.
December 11, 2013For those of you dreaming of a white Christmas, NOAA has a map showing the historic probability of your dream coming true.
December 10, 2013Only a few herds of reindeer and caribou are increasing or are stable at high numbers; most herds continue to decline or remain at low numbers after severe declines in recent decades. Whether these trends are a result of Arctic climate change or part of a natural pattern is still unknown.
December 10, 2013From reindeer to regional temperature patterns, from sea ice age to Greenland surface melt, the Arctic Report Card is a yearly assessment of the Arctic's physical and biological systems and how they are changing. This collection of visual highlights from the 2013 report is a story of the Arctic in pictures.
December 9, 2013Since observations began in 1982, Arctic-wide tundra vegetation productivity has increased. In North America, the rate of greening has accelerated since 2005.
December 9, 2013Since the early 1990s, annual atmospheric equivalent black carbon concentrations in the Arctic have decreased at the surface by as much as 55 percent—one of the few "good news" stories coming out of the region.
December 9, 2013Since the mid-1960s, the Arctic has warmed about 3.6°F (2.0°C)—more than double the amount of warming in lower latitudes. In 2012 (the last complete calendar year available at the time scientists began working on the 2013 Arctic Report Card), the annual average temperature was the sixth warmest on record.
December 9, 2013After record-breaking melt during the 2012 season, the 2013 melt extent was more on par with the long-term average. The reprieve from the record warmth and melting of the past six summers is likely connected to a strong positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation during summer 2013.
December 9, 2013Most of the Arctic boundary waters were warmer than average in summer 2013, but a few cool pockets appeared in the western Arctic and the Greenland Sea. Warmer waters are drawing new species from lower latitudes into the Arctic.
December 9, 2013In May 2013, there was record-setting loss of Eurasian spring snow cover, and spring snow cover was below normal again in June—the fourth lowest on record. This is the sixth year in a row that Eurasia has set a new record low in either May or June snow extent.
- December 9, 2013
In March 1988, thick, multi-year ice comprised 26 percent of the Arctic's ice pack. In 2005, that number dropped to 19 percent. In 2013, it dropped to 7 percent.
December 9, 2013Averaged over September 2013, sea ice extent was 2.07 million square miles—larger than last year's record low, but still more than 17 percent below average and the sixth smallest September extent on record.
November 20, 2013(VIDEO) Without a strong influence from El Niño or La Niña, the U.S. winter climate is less predictable. Based on recent trends, however, drought is likely to develop in the Southwest and Southeast over the 2013-14 winter.
November 20, 2013Traditional weather forecasts consist of weather maps that predict exactly how much rain may fall or the maximum daily temperature of an area. NOAA climate outlooks forecast the odds that future weather conditions will be above, below, or near normal.
November 15, 2013The U.S. Drought Portal offers access to maps, data, and expert assessments through easy-to-use tools designed to help decision makers monitor, plan for, and recover from water shortages.
November 14, 2013Nearly ten percent of U.S. watersheds are living beyond their means when it comes to their water supply. For nearly half the country, water stress is projected to worsen by mid-century because of climate change, according to a recent NOAA-funded analysis.
November 6, 2013October in Alaska this year was more like September, with warmth and rain in place of autumn chill and snow. Wind anomalies related to unusual pressure patterns conspired to bring a steady stream of warm, wet air from southerly latitudes into Alaska.
October 31, 2013Stunned by Sandy's devastation, the city of New York undertook an ambitious project: to update its long-term sustainability plan using the latest climate science. Their goal was to understand how much sea level could rise, how soon, and just how vulnerable the city would be if some of the more extreme climate change projections turn into reality.
October 30, 2013For much of Alaska, lack of snow, soaking rains, and record-warmth have made October feel more like September.
October 30, 2013Developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center, the sea level rise viewer offers access to data and information about the risks of sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding along the coastal United States. The Web-based map has the potential to help people build (or rebuild) in a more resilient way.
- October 29, 2013
Developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center, the sea level rise viewer offers access to data and information about the risks of sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding along the coastal United States. The Web-based map has the potential to help business owners and community planners build (or rebuild) in a more resilient way.
October 28, 2013While heat is stored and mixed throughout the depth of the ocean, it is the temperature at the surface—where the ocean is in direct contact with the atmosphere—that plays a significant role in weather and short-term climate.
September 26, 2013Why do global climate models behave like they do?
September 26, 2013Ron Stouffer and Gabriel Vecchi of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., share their experiences working on one of the most comprehensive scientific documents in history.
September 24, 2013To be consistent with NOAA's use of 30-year periods for the official "climate normals," the National Snow and Ice Data Center switched its baseline period for sea ice analyses from 1979-2000 to 1981-2010. Compared to the new normal, the low ice conditions of the recent past will appear less abnormal than they used to.
September 19, 2013Maps of the thousands of storms that have passed through the Eastern Hemisphere tropical oceans in the past century or so reveal a more crowded landscape than similar maps of the Western Hemisphere. Unlike the Western Hemisphere, where storms are mostly confined to areas north of the equator, the Eastern Hemisphere sees storms in both north and south tropical waters.
September 12, 2013August 2013 came and went without a single Atlantic hurricane. That's unusual, but by no means unprecedented.
September 11, 2013Where are the best places to live if you are looking to avoid tropical cyclones?
September 6, 2013Since 2002, Octobers in Barrow, Alaska—America's northernmost town—are regularly near the warmest on record, thanks to the retreat of sea ice. The warming hinders traditional hunting activities, makes the town more vulnerable to storm surge flooding, and thaws the frozen ground to greater depths, which destabilizes roads, house foundations, and traditional underground freezers.
August 28, 2013Maps of changes in the saltiness of the surface waters of the ocean over time can reveal natural climate cycles, human-caused changes in evaporation and rainfall, and variation in the strength and location of currents. This map of changes in surface salinity between 2004 and 2012 provides clues to how climate variabiity and change have influenced the global water cycle in the past decade.
August 27, 2013(video) Chief Meteorologist Jim Gandy, at WLTX in Columbia, SC, earned his reputation as a leading TV meteorologist by giving his viewers what they want: sound science and interesting visuals in a delivery style that's crisp and easy to understand. Recently, Gandy expanded his reports to include locally focused climate science information on topics that directly touch viewers' lives. No controversy here, says Gandy, just good community service.
August 26, 2013On July 30, 2013, a weather station on the southwest coast of Greenland preliminarily set a new record high temperature for the country, but whether it will stand as an "official" record after scientists apply quality control procedures isn't yet known. What is known? Greenland's getting warmer.
August 20, 2013In July 2013, the Pacific Northwest was relatively dry, while the Southeast got a soaking.
August 14, 2013Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dorian, Erin... who’s next? Probably plenty more, according to NOAA’s updated Atlantic hurricane season outlook. With five named storms already in the books this summer, the 2013 hurricane season is shaping up to be above normal.
August 2, 2013From record-low Arctic sea ice to the highest global sea level of the modern record, the 2012 State of the Climate report provides a complete rundown on the state of Earth's climate and how it is changing.
August 2, 2013The extent of snow-covered ground in the Northern Hemisphere at the end of the cold season (June) hit a record low. Annual average snow cover extent has not exceeded the long-term average even once since 2003. Between 1979 and 2011, the snow cover in June is declining even faster than the end-of-summer Arctic sea ice extent.
August 2, 2013Since 1976, every year has been warmer than the long-term average, and 2012 continued the trend: the global surface temperature ranked among the top 10 warmest years on record.
July 31, 2013Glacier mass balance in 2011 (the most recent year for which worldwide analysis is complete) was negative, and preliminary data indicate that 2012 will probably be the 22nd consecutive year of net losses in glacier mass. Between 1980 and 2011, glaciers around the world lost the water equivalent of 15.7 meters. That would be like slicing a roughly 17-meter-thick slab off the top of the average glacier and repeating that exercise worldwide.
July 31, 2013Global average sea level in 2012 was 1.4 inches above the 1993-2010 average, which was the highest yearly average in the satellite record. Sea level has been rising over the past century, and the pace has increased in recent decades.
July 31, 2013Earth's atmosphere includes billions and billions of gallons of evaporated water: in fact, water vapor is Earth's most abundant greenhouse gas.
July 30, 2013Why it matters
July 30, 2013Sea surface temperature—the average temperature of water at the surface of the global ocean—is a key indicat
July 30, 2013In 2012, sea ice melted to a record-breaking minimum extent. At the end of the summer melt season, ice covered only about half of the average area it did from 1979–2000.
July 30, 2013The ocean’s ability to store and release heat over long periods of time gives it a central role in stabilizing Ear
July 19, 2013The Southwest received a double-whammy welcome to summer in June: the region was both much hotter and much drier than usual.
July 18, 2013In June 2013, many areas of the world experienced higher-than-average monthly temperatures.
July 15, 2013For the first six months of 2013, the contiguous United States has been nearly split in half by temperature and precipitation differences. Much of the East has been dealing with below- or near-normal temperatures, above-normal precipitation, and flooding while much of the West has been dealing with above-normal temperatures, below-normal precipitation, and drought.
July 11, 2013They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and that was certainly true in June. Throughout the month, two very different stories played out in the contiguous United States. While the drought-stricken West fell into the grips of an intense heat wave, East Coasters were bombarded by summer thunderstorms.
July 1, 2013Summer thunderstorms are likely to improve drought conditions in the Southwest, but drought will likely persist across much of the West.
June 20, 2013A plant is a sophisticated climate-observing device. These satellite maps of the central and southern Great Plains during the week of April 8, 2012, and 2013 show how plants in the heart of the U.S. winter wheat croplands "measured" dramatically different climate conditions this spring than last.
June 19, 2013Many areas of the world experienced higher-than-average monthly temperatures according to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National
June 13, 2013May 2013 temperatures were slightly warmer than average.
June 12, 2013Until a warmer-than-average May, spring 2013 was reluctant to arrive for a majority of the United States. The country’s overall average spring temperature was the coolest since 1996, and it was also the first season in the contiguous United States that the seasonal temperature was below average since the winter of 2010–2011. In addition to cool temperatures, spring brought both wet and dry precipitation extremes to areas across the nation.
June 10, 2013Tampa Bay Water Supply Manager Allison Adams knows water is precious for the millions of residents who rely on the water agency for drinking water and recreation, and for the region’s natural ecosystems, including wetlands and lakes. Adams and colleagues discuss how their evolving water management approach allows them to balance diverse water needs in the face of often unpredictable water sources and cycles.
June 10, 2013Tampa Bay Water provides safe, potable drinking water to 2.3 million people in the Tampa Bay region. But future availability of surface water can be hard to predict, and drought is a recurring challenge there. The water utility managers are increasingly using seasonal climate forecasts to track climate variability, which helps them better plan their water supply and reduce their vulnerability to seasonal climate impacts.
May 24, 2013Rain and snow across the contiguous United States during April 2013.
May 23, 2013NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has issued its 2013 Atlantic hurricane seasonal outlook. In this video, Gerry Bell, a NOAA CPC meteorologist, explains that as of May 23, 2013, the outlook favors an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season from June 1 through November 30.
May 20, 2013During late winter, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas received sorely needed rain which helped reduce short-term impacts, like wildfire and dry topsoil. But as Deke Arndt explains, it has taken months to develop deep and severe drought in the region, and a few wet weeks won't erase that situation. It can take months of ideal conditions to bring soil, rivers, and vegetation back to health.
May 20, 2013Spring 2013 has brought something fairly unusual in recent years: colder-than-average temperature for the nation as a whole. NOAA's Deke Arndt talks about how spring temperatures in three U.S. climate divisions compare to the local long-term trend.
May 20, 2013The average global temperature for April 2013 was the 13th highest on record for April at 57.64° Fahrenheit. It also marked the 37th consecutive April and 339th consecutive month (more than 28 years) with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-average April temperature was April 1976 and the last below-average temperature for any month was February 1985.
May 16, 2013Although most drifting buoys start their journeys with a crude send-off—usually heaved into the ocean from the stern of a moving ship—NOAA oceanographer Rick Lumpkin describes today's drifter as "a high-tech message in a bottle." Insignificant on their own, but an army of drifters 1,000 strong patrols the world's oceans and records key data for climate monitoring and research.
May 16, 2013Drought status in the contiguous United States on May 14, 2013.
May 15, 2013April showers and cool temperatures brought drought relief to many areas across the United States, but conditions worsened in the Southwest.
April 17, 2013While Mother Nature was still giving the United States the cold shoulder during March, many other areas across the world experienced higher-than-average monthly temperatures according to the latest
April 14, 2013Looking at the temperature maps for March 2013, you might think that Old Man Winter over stayed his welcome or that Mother Nature was trying to make up for last March’s record-breaking heat.
April 13, 2013NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center released its Spring Outlook on March 21. The big story for the upcoming spring? Relief for many drought-stricken areas of the United States is not likely.
April 1, 2013The Spring Outlook encompasses temperature, precipitation, drought, and flooding expectations for the coming three months, and Mike Halpert, Acting Director of the Climate Prediction Center, discusses the outlook and its implications.
March 10, 2013Winter storms in February improved drought in the Southeast and Midwest, but well below average precipitation in parts of the West in recent months has worsened drought in other places.
March 7, 2013For the record books: A review of the ten most significant or unusual global climate or weather events of 2011, as ranked by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in its yearly review of the Earth’s climate.
February 21, 2013January 2013 was the 37th consecutive January and 335th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average. The last below-average January was in 1976.
February 12, 2013Despite several snowstorms associated with cold-air outbreaks, average January temperatures across the contiguous United States weren’t especially cold according to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. Although the average temperature was spot-on freezing—32.0° Fahrenheit—that was still 1.6° Fahrenheit warmer than the twentieth-century January average.
January 14, 2013Although 2012 warmth did not top the charts, it was the third warmest “La Niña year” on record.
December 16, 2012The average global temperature for November 2012 was the fifth warmest November since record keeping began in 1880.
December 16, 2012Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch, National Climatic Data Center
December 6, 2012It’s natural to associate drought with heat and with summer, but drought also impacts us during winter months. Winter wheat yields are declining, and the Mississippi River is approaching an all-time low. Understanding drought conditions and how they are affecting us is part of being “climate smart.”
December 5, 2012The November nationally averaged precipitation total of 1.19 inches was nearly an inch below the long-term average, making this the eighth driest November on record.
December 5, 2012NOAA released the 2012 installment of the annual Arctic Report Card on December 5, 2012, as part of the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting. This image collection is a gallery of highlights based on the report's major themes. It was developed by the NOAA Climate.gov team in cooperation with Arctic Report Card authors and other Arctic experts.
December 4, 2012On a yearly basis, Arctic temperatures are strongly influenced by natural climate patterns, including the Arctic and North Atlantic Oscillations. Over the span of a decade, though, Arctic amplification of climate change is evident: no part of the Arctic was cooler than the long-term average.
- December 4, 2012
The 2012 Arctic sea ice extent was nearly 50 percent smaller than the long-term (1979-2000) average. For sea ice to have shrunk to half its historic summer extent is as much a transformation of the environment as if half the forests of New England had been replaced by cactus.
December 4, 2012Few real-world signs of climate change are easier to read than changes in the growing season of familiar vegetation. Most of the high-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing longer growing seasons now than they did more than two and half decades ago.
December 4, 2012The summer of 2012 brought Greenland far more extensive melt than anything observed in the satellite record: in July 2012, surface melt extended over nearly the entire ice sheet. The standardized melt index was nearly double the previous record.
December 4, 2012In June 2012, snow cover extent over Eurasia and North America hit a new record low. It is the third time in five years that North America has set a new record low, and the fifth year in a row that Eurasia has. The rate of snow cover loss over Northern Hemisphere land areas in June between 1979 and 2012 is -17.6% per decade—a faster decline than September sea ice loss over the same period.
November 27, 2012Josh Kent of Louisiana State University gives a simple explanation of how sea level rise from climate change and sinking of the land both contribute to coastal changes.
November 27, 2012Randy Osborne of LSU and NOAA's Tim Osborn explain how global positioning system (GPS) satellites measure subsidence and sea level rise.
November 18, 2012Much of the western and southern central United States could be in for a warmer-than-average winter this year, while the upper Midwest and Florida peninsula could experience colder-than-average temperatures. Most of California and western Nevada could experience well-below-normal precipitation, while parts of the southeast could receive well-above-normal precipitation.
November 14, 2012The average global temperature for October 2012 was the fifth warmest October since recordkeeping began in 1880.
November 8, 2012After 16 consecutive months with warmer-than-normal conditions, the U.S. is headed for its warmest year on record.
November 7, 2012October 2012 ended the 16-month streak of above-average monthly temperatures for the contiguous United States, with an average temperature of 53.9° Fahrenheit, 0.3° Fahrenheit below the long-term average.
October 17, 2012With the end of the most active part of the Atlantic hurricane season approaching, there is still plenty of water in the western Atlantic basin that is warm enough to fuel hurricanes.
October 15, 2012September 2012 tied with September 2005 as the warmest September worldwide since record keeping began in 1880. See which countries saw warmer-than-average temperatures during last month, and learn how weak El Niño conditions might progress into the Northern Hemisphere winter.
October 9, 2012According to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, September 2012 marked the sixteenth consecutive month with above average temperatures for the Lower 48. Meanwhile, warm and dry conditions persisting in the Northwest have led to yet another month with above-average wildfire activity in the region.
October 9, 2012In summer of 2012, warm and dry climate climate conditions combined with weather to spark one of the West's largest wildfire seasons yet.
October 1, 2012Arctic sea ice extent set a new record low at the end of the summer melt season on September 16, 2012. But extent is not the only quality of the ice that is changing. Wind and ocean circulation patterns are conspiring with a warmer climate to reduce the amount of year-round (multi-year) ice, transforming the remaining ice into a younger, thinner version of its old self.
September 28, 2012According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, weak El Niño conditions may develop this fall. How might a full-fledged El Niño event this winter influence weather where you live?
September 16, 2012The average global temperature for August 2012 was more than 1° Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average, according to the latest monthly analysis from the National Climatic Data Center, making it the fourth-warmest August since record keeping began in 1880. August 2012 also marked the 36th consecutive August and 330th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average.
September 12, 2012In a place routinely afflicted by drought, water managers in Tampa Bay use climate forecasts to ensure a water supply to people’s taps without sucking the region’s rivers, wetlands, and groundwater dry. The limits of their innovation might be tested in a future which could pose even more challenges to ensuring the oasis remains green.
September 10, 2012Deke Arndt of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center reports that heavy rains from Hurricane Isaac in late August fell too late–and mostly in the wrong places–to provide much relief from U.S. drought.
September 9, 2012A scorching July contributed to the third hottest summer on record for the contiguous United States. Most of the U.S. was also drier than average. Rains from Isaac did little to relieve drought.
August 29, 2012Imagine heat waves like the one last July coming more often & lasting longer: that’s the projection from climate models for the middle of this century based on one future emissions path.
August 26, 2012Arctic sea ice extent fell to 1.58 million square miles on August 26, 2012. This was 27,000 square miles smaller than the previous record low of 1.61 million square miles set in 2007.
August 15, 2012The average global temperature for July 2012 was more than 1° Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average, making it the fourth warmest July since record keeping began in 1880
August 8, 2012July 2012 wasn’t just the hottest July on record, it was the hottest month ever recorded for the contiguous United States since records began in 1895.
July 30, 2012The current drought in the Southwest is not drier or longer-lasting than historic episodes documented in tree rings, but the current dry conditions stand out from the historical record by being hotter, according to Jonathan Overpeck, professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona.
July 20, 2012Jeff Privette describes the challenges of using satellites that people designed for observing changes in the weather from day to day to study changes in climate from decade to decade.
July 19, 2012Anthony Arguez, Normals Program Manager at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center explains what scientists mean when they compare current weather conditions to “normal.”
July 17, 2012The average global temperature for June 2012 was the fourth highest for any June since record keeping began in 1880. Land-only surface temperatures were the highest on record for the month. June 2012 also marks the 36th consecutive June and 328th consecutive month with a global temperature above the twentieth-century average. The last June with below-average global temperatures was June 1976.
July 10, 2012The lead character in the 2011 climate story was La Niña—the cool phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation—which chilled the central and eastern tropical Pacific at both
July 10, 2012In September 2011, Arctic sea ice reached its second-lowest minimum extent in the satellite record.
July 10, 2012Check the fine print on many cans of hairspray or shaving cream these days, and you’ll probably find a reassurance that the product you are holding contains “No CFCs or chemicals known
July 9, 2012Except for some La Niña-cooled regions of the tropical Pacific and a few other cool spots, the upper ocean held more heat than average in 2011 in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Southern Oceans.
July 9, 2012In early 2011, stratospheric temperatures rose over the tropics due to La Nina while temperatures over the poles fell below the long-term average.
July 9, 2012In 2011, global sea levels fell below the long-term trend of sea level rise, but as La Niña waned late in the year, global ocean levels began rising rapidly.
July 9, 2012Despite the double-dip La Nina that occurred throughout the year, 2011 was still among the 15 warmest years on record. Including the 2011 temperature, the rate of warming since 1971 is now between 0.14° and 0.17° Celsius per decade (0.25°-0.31° Fahrenheit), and 0.71-0.77° Celsius per century (1.28°-1.39° F) since 1901.
July 9, 2012In 2011, Earth’s atmosphere was cooler and drier than it had been the previous year, but it was more humid than the long-term average.
July 9, 2012In 2011, La Niña and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation cooled parts of the Pacific Ocean, but unusually warm temperatures predominated elsewhere.
July 9, 2012In 2011, annual snow cover extent over Northern Hemisphere continents (including the Greenland ice sheet) averaged 24.7 million square kilometers, which is 0.3 million square kilometers less than the long-term average.
July 9, 2012Data from 2010 indicate that mountain glaciers predominantly lost mass, and preliminary data from 2011 indicate a continuation of the same long-term trend.
July 8, 2012Scorching temperatures during the second half of June 2012 broke or tied over 170 all-time temperature records in cities across America.
June 19, 2012NOAA's 2012 hurricane outlook favors a slightly below average number and strength of storms in the central Pacific basin and a near-average season in both the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic basins.
June 14, 2012The average global temperature (land and ocean) for May 2012 was the second warmest May temperature since recordkeeping began in 1880, and the temperature over land surfaces was the warmest on record for May. May 2012 also marks the 327th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average.
June 7, 2012The average temperature for the United States during May was more than 3 degrees F above the long-term average, making it the second warmest May on record. The month's high temperatures also contributed to the warmest spring, warmest year-to-date, and warmest 12-month period the nation has ever experienced since record keeping began in 1895.
June 7, 2012Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center talks about the unusual heat in May 2012.
May 24, 2012Kristin Laidre, a marine mammal biologist, has taken more than thirty trips to the Arctic, many of them to study the mysterious narwhal. Although the narwhal has appeared in stories throughout history, scientists are just beginning to understand this quirky creature with a fierce survival instinct. But in recent years, a series of unusual events led Laidre to wonder if narwhals are being caught off guard by changes in their unforgiving environment…
May 8, 2012Since the beginning of 2012, the contiguous United States has been experiencing drier than average conditions. This lack of precipitation is affecting water availability for agriculture and municipal use, as well as increasing concerns about soil quality and wildfires.
May 2, 2012From poor soil to scorching summer heat, farmers in the U.S. Southeast face some significant challenges. Two Southeast growers are looking to seasonal climate forecasts to give them an edge.
April 27, 2012After a record-breaking drought last summer, dry conditions continue to linger in large portions of the South this spring.
April 20, 2012Grower Kirk Brock talks about adapting to rainfall extremes on his dryland farm in Florida and how seasonal climate forecasts should help him improve his operation.
April 19, 2012Alabama farmer Myron Johnson talks about how adding seasonal climate outlooks to his decisions about when to plant and harvest his cover crops helped produce a bumper cotton crop during the 2010 growing season.
April 16, 2012NCDC climate scientist Deke Arndt talks about the record March heat and the cumulative effect of a warm fall, winter, and early spring on “heating degree days”—an estimate of the energy demand during the U.S. cold season.
April 4, 2012In the Great Lakes region, conservation and resource managers are already fending off attacks by multiple invasive species. In the future, climate change will present new challenges, such as anticipating the invaders’ next move and dealing with new, emerging threats — some of which could be swimming around in your aquarium right now.
March 14, 2012According to NOAA’s 2012 Spring Outlook, odds are that dry conditions and above-average temperatures will persist in much of the South, where drought is still lingering after making headlines in 2011. But last year’s most devastating flood events are unlikely to repeat.
March 12, 2012When NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center crunched the numbers for December, January and February—”meteorological” winter for 2011-2012—it stacked up as the fourth warmest of the past 117 winters. Virtually all of the West received less than its average precipitation.
March 7, 2012The U.S. had its fourth warmest winter on record. NOAA's Deke Arndt recaps the 2011-2012 winter.
March 5, 2012It is virtually certain our world will continue to warm over this century and beyond. The exact amount of warming that will occur in the coming century depends largely on the energy choices that we make now and in the next few decades.
March 1, 2012For Europe, the first two calendar months of winter were mild. As if to make up for lost time, however, exceptionally cold weather arrived in late January and remained firmly entrenched for weeks.
February 15, 2012Although they are related, meteorology and climatology have important differences, particularly in how scientists develop and use weather and climate models. What makes climatologists think they can project climate scenarios decades into the future when meteorologists cannot accurately predict weather more than two weeks in advance? This presentation by Wayne Higgins of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center clarifies the relationships and differences between weather and climate, as well as the differences between natural climate variability and human-induced climate change.
February 15, 2012James Roger Fleming presents a historical perspective on how our understanding of Earth's climate system developed through innovations and discoveries by pioneering scientists in the 1800s and 1900s who asked and answered fundamental questions about the causes and effects of global climate change.
February 15, 2012Deke Arndt, chief of NOAA's Climate Monitoring Branch, presents the preponderance of scientific evidence that climate change is occurring and that humans are the primary cause.
February 14, 2012Climate scientist Anthony Janetos makes it clear that climate change isn't some future abstraction: real and substantial impacts on people's lives, the economy, the environment, and our valuable natural resources are already happening here in the United States.
February 14, 2012Humans currently release about 70 million tons of carbon dioxide every day into the atmosphere and about 20 million tons is being absorbed regularly by the oceans, causing the pH to drop. Chris Sabine describes current and projected future impacts of this acidification on marine ecology.
February 14, 2012Felix Kogan talks about using satellites to observe and forecast the climate conditions that lead to mosquito–and malaria–outbreaks.
February 13, 2012Jake Crouch of the National Climatic Data Center recaps the temperature patterns of 2011, emphasizing the much greater than average warmth across Arctic latitudes and the influence of La Niña in the tropical Pacific.
February 9, 2012Last year on Groundhog’s Day, large swaths of the country were covered in two feet of snow or more after a large storm pounded the eastern United States. This year, Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his den on a balmy day after the third-least snowy January on record. A comparison of snowfall (or lack thereof) so far this season to last year's winter white-out shows what a difference a year makes.
January 30, 2012Amid months of persistent heavy rains, some areas in Zimbabwe received their heaviest rainfall in 30 years during January, causing flooding and damage to crops.
January 25, 2012In August 2011, over seven inches of rain fell in a six-hour downpour in southwestern Nigeria. The torrential rains caused flooding and damage to infrastructure, buildings, and homes.
January 8, 2012More than a week of torrential rain in mid-September 2011 caused deadly floods across Sichuan, Shannxi, and Henan provinces in China.
January 7, 2012Seasonal precipitation patterns across the globe showed large differences from average in 2011, with several areas receiving heavy rains during more than one season of the La Niña-influenced year.
December 31, 2011A year-long La Niña contributed to dramatic variability in seasonal temperature patterns in 2011.
December 21, 2011Climate forecasters often describe the Arctic Oscillation as the “wild card” of the winter forecast. So far in 2011, the Arctic Oscillation has been in its positive phase, playing the card that favors a milder winter in the eastern United States.
December 7, 2011NOAA’s official Winter Outlook for 2011–2012 is unlikely to please many residents of either the still-soggy Missouri River Basin—which experienced historic flooding this past spring and summer—or the parched south-central United States, where severe to exceptional drought has been in place since spring.
December 2, 2011The U.S. had its fourth warmest winter on record. In this episode of ClimateCast, NOAA’s Deke Arndt recaps the 2011-2012 winter.
November 30, 2011Continuing a decade-long phenomenon, above-average warmth in the Arctic this year was two or more times greater than warming observed at lower latitudes.
November 30, 2011The surface melt season on Greenland lasted up to 30 days longer than average in 2011, and it affected 31 percent of the ice sheet surface. Ice mass loss from Greenland in 2011 was about 430 gigatons—enough ice to raise global sea level by just over 1 millimeter.
November 30, 2011On December 1, NOAA released its annual Arctic Report Card. Like a yearly check-up at the doctor's office, the report summarizes conditions in the Arctic atmosphere, ocean, and on land.
November 23, 2011During spring 2011, the Northern Great Plains experienced record flooding. This video explains how a La Niña climate pattern helped set the stage for this extreme event.
November 8, 2011Molly Heller is part of a team of scientists who processes flasks of air samples in NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, CO. Week in and week out, Heller and her colleagues unpack sealed glass flasks shipped back to Boulder from dozens of remote sites around the world. What’s inside is priceless: air captured from a site near Tasmania’s Cape Grim; from Summit, Greenland; the Canary Islands; the South Pole.
October 27, 2011The types of tree species that grow in a particular region determine the range of bright colors that paint our landscapes during the fall season. In the future, scientists project that the forest habitats all around us may undergo major changes to due to warming temperatures.
October 17, 2011Compared to the large ozone hole that forms over Antarctica each year, Arctic ozone loss has generally been much more limited. But in 2011, Arctic ozone declined to surprisingly low levels. What did climate have to do with it?
September 19, 2011The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee brought record rainfall amounts to the East Coast in the first week of September, swelling rivers and forcing evacuations in some areas of Pennsylvania and New York.
September 15, 2011Maps of locations where heat records were broken in summer 2011 make a nearly complete picture of the United States.
September 7, 2011Pietro Ceccato describes the role satellites play in monitoring vegetation health, rainfall, and soil moisture in drought-stricken places in East Africa.
September 2, 2011In summer 2011, the South was in the grip of one of the worst droughts on record, and the fall drought outlook issued by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center provided little hope of relief, especially for the Southwest and Texas.
September 1, 2011At the peak of this year’s drought, a record 12 percent of the U.S. was experiencing exceptional drought conditions.
August 31, 2011How do warm waters in the Caribbean this year compare to conditions in 2005, when high ocean temperatures triggered the worst mass coral bleaching event ever seen in the region?
August 29, 2011After enduring months of drought and baking summer heat, residents of the Southwest and Southern Plains will hardly be excited about the fall 2011 temperature and precipitation outlooks.
August 25, 2011Dr. Gerry Bell, the Lead Seasonal Hurricane Forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, talks about the 2010 Revised Hurricane Outlook and the importance of coastal residents having a preparedness plan.
August 22, 2011Each summer, the seasonal unraveling of the Arctic's blanket of ice exposes large areas of the ocean to solar heating. The smaller the ice extent, the larger the potential warming influence. Arctic sea ice extent in July 2011 was the lowest for that month in the satellite record.
August 22, 2011Each summer, the seasonal unraveling of the Arctic’s blanket of ice exposes large areas of the ocean to solar heating. The smaller the ice extent, the larger the potential warming influence. Arctic sea ice extent in July 2011 was the lowest for that month in the satellite record.
August 11, 2011A map of each location where a daily heat record was broken in July 2010 creates a nearly complete image of the contiguous United States.
August 8, 2011Two natural climate patterns, the Arctic Oscillation and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, had strong influences on the patterns of unusually warm and unusually cool spots worldwide in early and late 2010.
June 25, 2011Starting in July, when you hear that a day was hotter, or colder, or rainier than normal, that normal will be a little different from what it was in the past.
June 15, 2011Normally invisible, wind turbine wakes come to life over the ocean, fascinating scientists who study winds in the lower atmosphere.
May 29, 2011As of 2013, the warming effect of long-lived greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere has increased by approximately 34% since 1990.
May 23, 2011Climate models project that 100-degree days will become more numerous and widespread by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
May 5, 2011The tornado outbreak across the southern United States in late April 2011 was deadly, devastating, and record breaking. NOAA's "CSI" team is investigating the possible connections between global warming, natural climate patterns, and tornadoes.
April 13, 2011Arctic sea ice extent for the month of March was the second lowest in the satellite record. Ice cover at winter maximum continues to be dominated by young, thin ice.
March 22, 2011How did this year’s storms compare to the worst in recent history?
March 10, 2011The arrival of Hurricane Isabel in 2003 flooded the retirement home of a Chesapeake Bay couple. With sea level around the Chesapeake Bay rising faster than the global average, how are coastal residents planning for change?
March 4, 2011The ocean is the largest solar energy collector on Earth. More than 90 percent of the warming that has happened on Earth over the past 50 years has occurred in the ocean. Not all of that heating is detectable at the surface because currents move some of the heat to deeper layers of water, where it can "hide" for years or decades.
February 11, 2011Present since the last ice age, most of the world's glaciers are now shrinking or disappearing altogether as the climate gets warmer.
January 28, 2011Records from the last five decades show that on average, spring snow is disappearing earlier in the year than it did in the past.
January 26, 2011Computer climate models help scientists such as Dave Dewitt predict the life cycles of individual El Niño or La Niña events and their effects on weather patterns throughout the world. While the accuracy of these models continues to improve, they still have limitations.
January 26, 2011According to NOAA scientists, 2011 was a record-breaking year for climate extremes, not just in the United States, but around the world. Here's an illustrated guide to the year's top ten global climate and weather events.
January 11, 2011Capping off the warmest decade on record, the average global temperature in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest year since reliable records began in 1880.
November 19, 2010The average global surface temperature in October 2010 was 58.07°F (14.54°C), which is 0.97°F (0.54°C) above the historical average, according to the monthly assessment from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
October 14, 2010How do warm waters in the Caribbean this year compare to conditions in 2005, when high ocean temperatures triggered the worst mass coral bleaching event ever seen in the region?
October 5, 2010When the winds are right, dust from the deserts of the U.S. Southwest blows onto the snow-capped Rocky Mountains. How do dirty snowfields contribute to the loss of more than 250 billion gallons of water in the Colorado River?
September 15, 2010Identifying ocean areas with a deep layer of warm water—places that are storing large amounts of heat—is important for scientists trying to predict whether or not a hurricane will intensify.
September 3, 2010Each of the last three decades was warmer than all earlier decades in the instrumental record, and each set a new and statistically significant record, culminating in the 2000s, which was the warmest decade of all.
July 28, 2010This report presents a comprehensive appraisal of Earth’s climate in 2009, and establishes the last decade as the warmest on record. Reduced extent of Arctic sea ice, glacier volume, and snow cover reflect the effects of rising global temperature.
July 14, 2010CalNex—an intense data collection campaign to characterize the complicated interactions of air quality and climate over California—used an array of instruments and platforms this spring for a close look at greenhouse gases and pollutants.
July 2, 2010In 2007, Arctic sea ice retreated so dramatically that it broke all previous records for sea ice minimum for July through October. Is this year’s summer ice melt season on track to surpass 2007?
June 6, 2010In 1938, an unexpected Category 3 hurricane plowed across Long Island and into Connecticut. Could history repeat itself?
June 3, 2010At the highest point atop the Greenland Ice Sheet, Matthew Shupe and his colleagues are installing a suite of climate and weather instruments. Their goal is to better understand the role of clouds in the rapid warming observed across the Arctic region.
June 1, 2010Will ocean currents carry oil and byproducts from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead beyond the Gulf of Mexico and out into the open Atlantic Ocean? Climate data and computer models help scientists predict how and where.
May 20, 2010Across the globe, over land as well as sea, Earth’s average surface temperature for April 2010 made it the warmest April on record.
May 14, 2010How is climate change affecting bird migration patterns? Birdwatchers across the country and around the world are contributing their time, both in the field and online, to answer that question.
May 12, 2010Scientists examine data from computer models to generate simulations of sea ice thickness now and three decades into the future.
April 28, 2010Twice a month, scientists send weather balloons into the air to collect data about the atmosphere, from the ground all the way up to the darkness of near space. Many gathered for the launch of last week’s balloon, which marked 30 years of NOAA water vapor measurements in Boulder.
April 22, 2010Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Volcano roared to life on April 14, 2010, injecting billowing clouds of steam and volcanic ash into the atmosphere.
April 15, 2010The Global Hawk research aircraft soars to hard-to-reach areas of the atmosphere to collect samples of trace gases and chemicals. Find out just how high the Global Hawk flies.
April 15, 2010Curiosity is a cruel master, says Dave Bertelsen. Over the past 25 years, he has hiked over 12,000 miles through a desert canyon, just to see what was blooming. He found a few surprises along the way.
April 8, 2010In the summer of 2009, sea ice receded to its third-smallest area in recorded history. The reduced sea ice cover in the Arctic allowed an international group of scientists to study areas of the ocean that they have never been able to reach before.
March 30, 2010As the sun sinks below the horizon at the South Pole, NOAA researchers stationed at the bottom of the world settle in for six months of darkness. Throughout the Antarctic winter, the researchers will collect air samples to help maintain long-term records of trace gases, aerosols, and solar radiation.
March 17, 2010Across the contiguous United States, more than a third of the land has an above-average risk of flooding this spring, according to an announcement issued on March 15 by NOAA’s National Weather Service.
March 3, 2010Despite efforts to reduce emissions of a HFC-23, a potent greenhouse gas, research shows that concentrations of the compound have increased in recent years.
February 23, 2010In early February, two weather systems brought record snowfalls to Washington, D.C., and other parts of the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. At the same time, organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia, Canada, were dealing with a deficit of snow.
February 10, 2010NOAA researchers have built a "time machine" for weather that provides detailed snapshots of the global atmosphere from 1891 to 2008. The system's ability to "hindcast" past weather events is emerging as a powerful new tool for detecting and quantifying climate change.
February 10, 2010From the African savanna to North America’s boreal forests, NOAA’s CarbonTracker tool provides insight into what natural and human processes affect the uptake, release, and transport of carbon dioxide in Earth’s lower atmosphere.
January 21, 2010The “Scarlet Knight” becomes the first unmanned underwater glider to successfully cross the Atlantic. The technology promises to improve our understanding of the ocean and its role in climate and weather.
January 10, 2010A wave of cold Arctic air gripped much of North America, Europe, and northern portions of Asia through the month of December 2009.
December 30, 2009Has global warming stopped? That's what some people claim, based on global temperatures recorded since 1998. But, scientists say, not setting a new record high temperature each year doesn't mean the globe is cooling.
December 24, 2009Instruments located high atop NOAA’s Boulder Atmospheric Observatory tower help scientists track carbon emissions and air quality in Colorado.
December 16, 2009At the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Dr. Alexander E. “Sandy” MacDonald, of NOAA, used Science on a Sphere® to illustrate how climate change will transform the planet if humans do not reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
October 23, 2009In NOAA's version of CSI, Marty Hoerling leads a group of climate and weather researchers who investigate killer climate patterns—heat waves, tornadoes, and floods—to figure out what may have triggered them.
October 22, 2009Improved computer models help scientists understand Earth’s ocean.
October 21, 2009Coral reefs are important and productive ocean ecosystems, providing shelter and protection for diverse sea life. NOAA's latest seasonal outlook for coral bleaching shows potential for bleaching along the Pacific coast of Mexico and islands in the equatorial central Pacific Ocean.
October 21, 2009Global land and sea surface temperatures in August 2009 broke several records. The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest for any August on record.
October 21, 2009As the ocean absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide, the pH of the water drops. The more acidic water harms corals and other shell-building sea life.
September 1, 2009The Sun is the main source of power for the Earth's climate machine. Space-based measurements, begun in 1978, indicate Earth receives an average of 1,361 W/m<sup>2</sup> of incoming sunlight, and the amount varies by about one-tenth of a percent over the course of the 11-year solar cycle.
August 30, 2009Temperatures measured on land and at sea for more than a century show that Earth's globally averaged surface temperature is experiencing a long-term warming trend.
August 30, 2009Human activities, mainly burning fossil fuels, are increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, amplifying the natural greenhouse effect.
August 30, 2009Minimum sea ice extent observed by satellites each September has decreased by 13.7 percent per decade since the late 1970s. The seven lowest extents all occurred since 2007.
August 30, 2009El Niño and La Niña conditions occur when abnormally warm or cool waters accumulate in tropical latitudes of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The Oceanic Nino Index is the tool NOAA scienitsts use to watch for these temperature changes.
