California – Desdemona Despair

A drone view shows a flooded and damaged area following Hurricane Helene in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, 28 September 2024. Photo: Marco Bello / REUTERS

October 5, 2024

Climate “abandonment zones” are coming to the American South – Whole counties across Florida and Central Texas could begin to see their total populations decline

By Abrahm Lustgarten 2 October 2024 (The New York Times) – When Hurricane Helene, the 420-mile-wide, slow-spinning conveyor belt of wind and water drowned part of Florida’s coastline and then barged its path northward through North Carolina last week, it destroyed more than homes and bridges. It shook people’s faith in the safety of living […]

A property is engulfed in flames as the Thompson Fire burns, Tuesday, 2 July 2024, in Oroville, California. Photo: Ethan Swope / AP

July 7, 2024

Persistent heat wave in the U.S. expected to shatter new records as it bakes West and swelters in East – “Unfortunately, there won’t be much relief overnight either”

By Margery A. Beck 7 July 2024 (AP) – A long-running heat wave that has already shattered previous records across the U.S. will persist, baking parts of the West with dangerous temperatures that will soar into the 100s and holding the East in its hot and humid grip throughout the week, forecasters said Sunday. An excessive heat warning […]

Flames consume a home on Bessie Lane as the Thompson Fire burns in Oroville, California, Tuesday, 2 July 2024. An extended heat wave blanketing Northern California resulted in red flag fire warnings and power shutoffs. Photo: Noah Berger / AP Photo

July 5, 2024

Insurance crisis that started in Florida and California is spreading – “Insurance companies are responding to the fact that we’re seeing more frequent and more severe climate events, and the fact that they’re paying out more than they’re bringing in”

By Scott Cohn 2 July 2024 (CNBC) – An insurance crisis that has sent premiums skyrocketing and caused carriers to flee coastal states like Florida and California is spreading, and it is fundamentally changing the real estate market in states across the country. “Not only is the cost higher than people anticipated, but just the inability to […]

Map showing reduction of stored groundwater in the U.S. Southwest, April 2002 - September 2023. Gravity measurements from the GRACE series of satellites show that the decline in water levels in the Great Basin region from April 2002 to September 2023 has most severely affected portions of southern California (indicated in red). Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest. Graphic: Hall, et al., 2024 / Geophysical Research Letters

July 5, 2024

NASA satellites find record snow didn’t offset Southwest U.S. groundwater loss – “In years like the 2022-23 winter, I expected that the record amount of snowfall would really help to replenish the groundwater supply. But overall, the decline continued.”

By James R. Riordon 17 June 2024 (NASA GSFC) – Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data [Snowfall Replenishes Groundwater Loss in the Great Basin of the Western United States, but […]

A firefighter runs while battling the Thompson Fire burning in Oroville, California, Tuesday, 2 July 2024. An extended heat wave blanketing Northern California resulted in red flag fire warnings and power shutoffs. Photo: Noah Berger / AP Photo

July 5, 2024

Evacuations ordered as new California wildfire ignites in scorching heat wave

By Patrick Smith 5 July 2024 (NBC News) – Scorching temperatures on the Fourth of July fueled wildfires in California that have burned through the night, as warnings from meteorologists that the holiday period could be hit by dangerously high heat came to pass. With much of the country in the grip of a heat wave that is set to […]

Global surface air temperature anomalies compared with 1850-1900 mean, 1940-2024. May 2024 was the 12th consecutive month to set a monthly global average temperature record, and exceed the key Paris Agreement temperature target of 1.5°C. Data: ERA5. Graphic: Tory Lysik / Axios Visuals

June 24, 2024

Global heat record broken for 12th straight month in May 2024

By Andrew Freedman 5 June 2024 (Axios) – May 2024 was the 12th consecutive month to set a monthly global average temperature record, and exceed a key Paris Agreement temperature target. Why it matters: The new data comes amid a slew of findings from climate monitoring groups released Wednesday, timed to coincide with a speech in New York […]

Joshua trees, such as this 25-foot-tall specimen that is 150 to 200 years old, are threatened with removal for a solar project in Boron by Avantus, a California company that is mostly owned by KKR, the global private equity firm. Thousands of protected Joshua trees just outside this desert town, including many thought to be a century old, will be cut down to make way for the sprawling solar project. Residents worry that construction dust will spread valley fever. Photo: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

June 1, 2024

Solar project to destroy thousands of Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert – “Let’s destroy the environment to save the environment”

By Melody Petersen 31 May 2024 BORON, California (Los Angeles Times) – A renewable energy company will soon begin clearing thousands of protected Joshua trees just outside this desert town, including many thought to be a century old, to make way for a sprawling solar project that will generate power for 180,000 homes in wealthier […]

Heat-related deaths in the U.S., 1979-2023. A heat wave in July of 2023 contributed to a higher recorded death toll — about 2,300 people in total — than historic heat waves in 1980 and 1995. Data: National Center for Health Statistics, CDC Wonder. Graphic: M.K. Wildeman / AP

June 1, 2024

2023 set record for U.S. heat deaths, killing in areas that used to handle the heat – “We can be confident saying that 2023 was the worst year we’ve had since we’ve started having reliable reporting on that”

By Seth Borenstein, Mary Katherine Wildeman, and Anita Snow 31 May 2024 (AP) – David Hom suffered from diabetes and felt nauseated before he went out to hang his laundry in 108-degree weather, another day in Arizona’s record-smashing, unrelenting July heat wave. His family found the 73-year-old lying on the ground, his lower body burned. Hom […]

Maps showing daily temperature variation (DTV, a) and population density in the world (b). Graphic: Liu and Smith-Greenaway, 2024 / PNAS Nexus

May 28, 2024

Study finds Black and Hispanic Americans are disproportionately exposed to wider temperature swings

22 May 2024 (PNAS Nexus) – Extreme heat can harm human health, but so can extreme temperature swings. Large daily temperature variation (DTV) has been associated with elevated mortality in studies around the world. Trees and other vegetation can lower DTV, as trees reduce temperature through transpiration during the day and also trap long-wave radiation […]

Research into Southern California’s history of ocean dumping was spurred by the discovery of mysterious and corroded barrels dumped off the coast of Los Angeles. Photo: David Valentine / ROV Jason

May 27, 2024

DDT found in deep-sea fish raises troubling concerns for food web – “Nothing is untouched”

By Rosanna Xia 6 May 2024 (Los Angeles Times) – For several years now, one question has held the key to understanding just how much we should worry about the hundreds of tons of DDT that had been dumped off the coast of Los Angeles: How, exactly, has this decades-old pesticide — a toxic chemical spread across […]