Motorists splash through the water along North Flagler Drive during king tide flooding in West Palm Beach, Florida on 30 September 2023. Photo: Greg Lovett / The Palm Beach Post

Florida, the state of denial, needs to eliminate “heat index” for climate change relief – “Suggestion for DeSantis: ‘Freedom flooding’” 

By Frank Cerabino 21 May 2024 (The Palm Beach Post) – It is time for Florida to ban the words “heat index.” It’s the next logical step to take for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed a new law that removes references to “climate change” in state statutes. Man-made pollution that helps to warm the planet […]

Meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin of Florida’s NBC 6 posted on Twitter / X on 18 May 2024: “Don’t Say Climate Change!” As Florida is on fire, under water and unaffordable, our state government is rolling back climate change legislation and language. Graphic: Steve MacLaughlin

TV meteorologist blasts Florida’s new “Don’t Say Climate Change” law amid oppressive heat

By Rachel Ramirez 21 May 2024 (CNN) – As vast parts of Florida sweltered in oppressive heat over the weekend, South Florida TV meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin criticized the state’s new legislation that deleted most references to climate change from state law, and urged his viewers to vote. “The entire world is looking to Florida to lead in […]

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

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

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 […]

Map of confirmed tornadoes and tornado warnings by the National Weather Service during the tornado outbreak of 6-9 May 2024. Map produced in QGIS. National Weather Service warning outlines available from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet and tornado data available from the National Centers for Environmental Information. Graphic: Wxtrackercody / Wikipedia

How “kitty cats” are wrecking the home insurance industry – “What we’ve missed is that it wasn’t a big event that had a big impact, it was a bunch of small surprise events that just added up”

By Jake Bittle 16 May 2024 (Grist) – The rising cost of homeowner’s insurance is now one of the most prominent symptoms of climate change in the United States. Major carriers like State Farm and Allstate have pulled back from offering fire insurance in California, dropping thousands of homeowners from their books, and dozens of small […]

Screenshot of a Twitter (X) post showing a photo of Gov. Ron DeSantis signing legislation that erases the words “climate change” from state statutes on 15 May 2024. Photo: Ron DeSantis / UPI

Gov. Ron DeSantis signs law erasing “climate change” from Florida policy – “This purposeful act of cognitive dissonance is proof that the governor and the state legislature are not acting in the best interests of Floridians, but rather to protect profits for the fossil fuel industry”

By Sheri Walsh 16 May 2024 (UPI) – With summer’s extreme heat and this year’s hurricane season rolling into Florida next month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday that will erase climate change from state policy effective 1 July 2024. The new law will erase the words “climate change” from state statutes and make energy […]

Map showing areas surrounding New Orleans underwater by 2050 if current trends in sea level rise continue. Graphic: Climate Central

Interactive map shows United States areas under the sea in 2050 due to climate change

By John O’sullivan 1 January 2024 (Irish Star) – Several parts of The United States could be underwater by the year 2050, according to a frightening map produced by Climate Central. The map shows what could happen if the sea levels, driven by climate change, continue to rise at rates of 2 mm and 4 mm […]

A map of the world plotted with some of the most significant climate events that occurred during November 2023. Graphic: NOAA/NCEI

NOAA reports 2023 hottest year on record, so far – “We will look back at 2023 and think of it as: remember that year that wasn’t so bad?”

By Lauren Sommer 28 December 2023 (NPR) – As 2023 draws to a close, it’s going out on top. “It’s looking virtually certain at this point that 2023 will be the hottest year on record,” says Zeke Hausfather, climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit that analyzes climate trends. Though temperature records from December have […]

Screenshot of the Human Climate Horizons platform, showing projected sea level rise (cm) in the 2040-2059 time horizon under the intermediate carbon emissions scenario (SSP2-4.5). Australis, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and and the Pacific islands of Oceania are shown. The global average sea level rise is projected to be more than 18 cm. Graphic: UNDP

Climate change’s impact on coastal flooding to increase by five times over this century – “The effects of rising sea levels will put at risk decades of human development progress in densely populated coastal zones which are home to one in seven people in the world”

28 November 2023 (UNDP) – According to new data on the Human Climate Horizons platform, a collaboration between the Climate Impact Lab and UNDP, increased coastal flooding this century will put over 70 million people in the path of expanding floodplains. Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific, and Small Island Developing […]

Storm track of Hurricane Idalia before it made landfall in Florida. The warm sea surface temperatures of the Gulf of Mexico fueled the storm, allowing it to strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane from a Category 1 just hours before making landfall on 30 August 2023. Graphic: The New York Times

2023 hurricane season marked by storms that “really rapidly intensified”

By William B. Davis and Judson Jones 2 December 2023 (The New York Times) – The 2023 hurricane seasons in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific came to an end this week, with both basins experiencing an above average number of storms, fueled by extremely warm ocean temperatures. The two basins had a combined 37 storms, […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial