11 February 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – The year 2017 was the second-worst year for wildfires in the U.S., according to data published by the National Interagency Fire Center. Nationwide, wildfires burned a total 10,026,086 acres, just 99,063 acres shy of the record, 10,125,149 acres, set in 2015. In December, 2017 was on track to be […]
By Angela Fritz and Jason Samenow 18 January 2018 (The Washington Post) – Near-record warmth in 2017 helped fuel extreme weather around the planet that caused catastrophic destruction, human suffering, and loss of life. NOAA and NASA both reported Thursday that last year ranked among the three warmest on record. All four of the hottest […]
By Louis Sahagun 11 January 2018 (Los Angeles Times) – A rare venomous sea snake found slithering on the sand in Newport Beach earlier this week was one of a growing number of the serpents apparently drawn far north of their usual habitat by the spread of warm ocean temperatures, a biologist said Thursday. The […]
By Chris Mooney 18 January 2018 (The Washington Post) – 2017 was among the hottest years ever recorded, government scientists reported Thursday. The year was the second-hottest in recorded history, NASA said, while scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported 2017 was the third-warmest they have ever recorded. The two government agencies use […]
By Max Golembo and Matt Gutman 9 January 2018 (ABC News) – At least six people are dead in California from weather-related incidents, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said today. The southern part of the state has been drenched with severe rain just weeks after several fires tore through the area.Flash flooding, debris flow […]
By Alene Tchekmedyian 7 January 2018 (Los Angeles Times) – head of a strong winter storm that could trigger flash flooding and mudslides, authorities have ordered evacuations of Santa Barbara County neighborhoods that sit below areas recently burned by wildfires.Residents who live in the following areas were told to evacuate by noon Monday: north of […]
4 January 2018 (Munich Re) – The hurricane trio of Harvey, Irma, and Maria will cost the insurance industry a record amount in 2017: the final insurance bill for those and other natural catastrophes, including a severe earthquake in Mexico, is expected to come to US$ 135bn – higher than ever before. And overall losses […]
By Darryl Fears 4 January 2018 (The Washington Post) – The Trump administration unveiled a controversial proposal Thursday to permit drilling in most U.S. continental-shelf waters, including protected areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic, where oil and gas exploration is opposed by governors from New Jersey to Florida, nearly a dozen attorneys general, more […]
By Alana Semuels 29 December 2017 HEMET, California (The Atlantic) – Many cities across America are doing better today than they were before the recession. This is not one of them. A decade after the start of the Great Recession, it struggles with pervasive crime and poverty. “We’re still recovering—we were really hit hard on […]
By Javier Panzar and Michael Livingston 22 December 2017 VENTURA (Los Angeles Times) – The Thomas fire on Friday became California’s largest wildfire on record, burning 273,400 acres during its destructive march across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The fire eclipsed the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego County, which burned 273,246 acres. The milestone […]
