Forecasting Extreme Weather Archive

  • A scientist from the University of Arizona boring a tree ring sample.

    Tree Rings: A Type of Weather Data

    Posted on May 8, 2012 | No Comments
    By Penny Paugh Trees grow on every continent except Antarctica, and the rings they contain embody a record of climate change going back thousands of years.  Each ring represents a single year’s growth, so not only can a ring count tell us how old a...

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  • Deer graze near a flooded oil derrick in a field in Louisiana. Image reproduced from AP.

    The Economic Impact of Extreme Weather in the US

    Posted on May 4, 2012 | No Comments
    A team of social scientists and economists from Colorado and California recently completed a study on the United States economy’s sensitivity to weather variability: extreme heat, extreme cold, droughts, and floods. This study marked the first time that US economic susceptibility to extreme weather had...

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  • A twilit Antarctic landscape. Reproduced from BAS.

    The UK Cuts Antarctic Research

    Posted on May 2, 2012 | No Comments
    By Penny Paugh The British polar research community is at risk. The UK government plans massive cuts, more than 25 percent, to the budget of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The cuts are ordered as a means to reduce the UK’s national deficit. BAS is...

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  • Homepage of the Charles Darwin Foundation: www.DarwinFoundation.org

    Galápagos: A Living Ecological Lab

    Posted on April 27, 2012 | No Comments
    By Penny Paugh The Galápagos Islands off the western coast of South America are renowned as an evolutionary and ecological living laboratory. These Pacific islands can serve as a barometer to gauge how climate and ecosystems interact, and provide a unique window into the relationship...

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  • Map of Rwanda. Image reproduced from HistorySpeaks.org.uk

    Rwandan Drought; Ongoing Climate Concerns

    Posted on April 25, 2012 | No Comments
    by Aura Lawson La Niña has persisted longer than expected this year, and with it comes agricultural uncertainty for many countries across the globe. Rwanda is no exception. Anthony Twahirwa, head of Rwanda’s Meteorological Center, explains that their forecasting agency expected decreased rainfall as a...

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  • NASA close-up image of a solar flare (false color).

    Recent Solar Storm Floods Earth’s Upper Atmosphere

    Posted on April 17, 2012 | No Comments
    By Pennell Paugh Though the Earth is constantly bombarded by charged particles from the Sun, which emits material in all directions in a process known as the solar wind, sometimes the Sun ramps up magnetic activity on its surface, triggering huge flares of insidious plasma....

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  • An example of a simple report on scenarios of global warming, produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Image reproduced from NewScientist.

    Isolating Climate Change Constraints

    Posted on April 3, 2012 | No Comments
    By Penny Paugh There are many factors that affect the global temperature of the planet, including the rise and fall of greenhouse gases, solar activity, light-scattering atmospheric pollutants, heat transfer among the land, sea, and air, and the presence or absence of forests to process...

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  • An example cross-section of a tree trunk that provides valuable insight into historical weather. Image reproduced from Maricopa.edu.

    Could Climate Change Have Contributed to the Fall of Rome?

    Posted on March 26, 2012 | No Comments
    By Penny Paugh One form of environmental data, tree rings, has provided evidence of a climate shift that, perhaps not coincidentally, occurred from 250 to 550 A.D., a period that coincides with the fall of the Roman Empire. From ancient wood found in medieval castles...

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  • Agriculture suffers when either the long rains or the short rains fail to materialize in a given year, but especially when they both fail to materialize. Image reproduced from USAID.gov.

    African Drought and Data Rescue

    Posted on March 23, 2012 | No Comments
    Drought in Africa has been a destructive force to life and property since the beginning of recorded time. Most recently, East Africa suffered a severe drought in 2010 that persisted nearly the entire year. However, one good thing that came out of this catastrophic drought...

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  • Figure 1: Annual Running Total of Reported Tornados in the U.S. from 2005 through 2012

    Are Tornados Becoming More Common?

    Posted on March 8, 2012 | No Comments
      We are only about two months into 2012, but already the United States has had 183 confirmed tornados and 49 associated fatalities as of March 7. With the debate about global warming and its consequences at the forefront of the nation’s attention, the public...

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