El Nino warps weather worldwide. Meteorologists say the natural El Nino cycle is both adding to and feeling the heat of a warming world. A new study says a shift from a rare three‑year La Nina to a strong El Nino recently helped trap extra heat in the climate system. Study authors say between warming from greenhouse gases and that La Nina to El Nino change, it explains three-quarters of Earth's energy imbalance, which leads to extra heat. Warmer waters are also causing NOAA to shift how it calculates and labels this cycle, which likely means more La Ninas and fewer El Ninos.
A series of late December storms has delivered a welcome boost to California's snowpack and water supply, reversing an early-season dry trend …
California officials and researchers across the country are sounding the alarm about the Trump administration’s plans to dismember a global hu…
Atmospheric rivers are long and relatively narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky. They carry moisture from the tropics to northern and southern latitudes, and can dump heavy rains or snow over land. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, they occur globally but are especially significant on the West Coast of the United States, where they create 30% to 50% of annual precipitation and are vital to water supplies but also can cause storms that produce flooding and mudslides.
Sunday marks the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, signaling the start of astronomical winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, it's the longest day, marking the beginning of summer. The term "solstice" comes from Latin, meaning the sun's "pause" in its annual path. After the winter solstice, the sun begins to climb higher, and days gradually lengthen until late June. Solstices have been celebrated for ages, with monuments like Stonehenge aligning with the sun's paths. The equinox, in contrast, is when both hemispheres receive equal sunlight, leading to nearly equal day and night lengths.
I have been fascinated by weather my entire life. That fascination led me to study climatology, then into a career as a geologist studying how…
California’s last nuclear power plant overcame a regulatory hurdle on Thursday when the California Coastal Commission voted to approve keeping…
Half Moon Bay is vulnerable to a variety of climate threats, including coastal erosion, flooding and wildfire, and is moving forward with a pl…
