Topic - Extreme Weather

Hurricane Florence as seen from the International Space Station on September 10.

Opinion

Why the Current Hurricane Rating System Needs to Be Scrapped

By Rob Young and Katie McDowell Peek

A forest fire blazes alongside a river in Washington state in 2014.

How Wildfires Are Polluting Rivers and Threatening Water Supplies

By Ed Struzik

Forest managers set this prescribed burn in California's Stanislaus National Forest.

Fighting Fire with Fire: California Turns to Prescribed Burning

By Jane Braxton Little

Moisture produced by the world's forests generates rainfall thousands of miles away.

Rivers in the Sky: How Deforestation Is Affecting Global Water Cycles

By Fred Pearce

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service firefighter monitors the Rim Fire in August 2013 near Groveland, California.

Forests

Does a Fire-Ravaged Forest Need Human Help to Recover?

By Ed Struzik

Interview

After the Storm, Puerto Rico Misses Chance to Rebuild with Renewables

By Katherine Bagley

By 2023, Orange County, California's wastewater treatment system will generate 130 million gallons of drinking water a day.

Where Water is Scarce, Communities Turn to Reusing Wastewater

By Jacques Leslie

New York City has painted about 7 million square feet of tar rooftops white to lower temperatures.

Urban Heat: Can White Roofs Help Cool World’s Warming Cities?

By Fred Pearce

After Cape Town restricted water use in February to 13 gallons per day per person, city residents now wait in increasingly long lines to collect water from the city's natural springs.

Awaiting Day Zero: Cape Town Faces an Uncertain Water Future

By Adam Welz

Climate Connection: Unraveling the Surprising Ecology of Dust

By Jim Robbins

Firefighters battle a wildfire near Mariposa, California.

Stark Evidence: A Warmer World Is Sparking More and Bigger Wildfires

By Nicola Jones

Sea level rise has shrunk India's Ghoramara Island from nearly 8 square miles to 2 square miles in recent decades.

Opinion

Taking the Long View: The ‘Forever Legacy’ of Climate Change

By Rob Wilder and Dan Kammen

Extensive flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey in southeast Texas on Aug. 31, 2017.

Interview

As Harvey’s Floodwaters Recede, How Should Houston Rebuild?

By Diane Toomey

An algae bloom in Lake St. Clair in July 2015. The lake is bordered by Detroit, Michigan to the west and Canadian farmland to the east.

Analysis

The Nitrogen Problem: Why Global Warming Is Making It Worse

By Richard Conniff

Homes in Mantoloking, New Jersey, off of Barnegat Bay, damaged by Sandy in 2012.

How Rising Seas and Coastal Storms Drowned the U.S. Flood Insurance Program

By Gilbert M. Gaul

Flood waters inundated Port Vincent, Louisiana after historic rains in August 2016.

Wild Weather and Climate Change: Scientists Are Unraveling the Links

By Nicola Jones

Giant sequoias in Sequoia National Park.

In the Sierras, New Approaches to Protecting Forests Under Stress

By Janet Marinelli

Meltwater on top of Arctic sea ice in July 2016.

An Unusually Warm Arctic Year: Sign of Future Climate Turmoil?

By Fen Montaigne

Arctic Ocean sea ice melt as seen from the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Cutter Healy.

The Global Impacts of Rapidly Disappearing Arctic Sea Ice

By Peter Wadhams

Unnatural Disaster: How Climate Helped Cause India’s Big Flood

The flood that swept through the Indian state of Uttarakhand two years ago killed thousands. Now researchers are saying that melting glaciers and shifting storm tracks played a major role in the disaster and should be a warning about how global warming could lead to more catastrophic floods in the future.

By Daniel Grossman

Beyond the Perfect Drought: California’s Real Water Crisis

The record-breaking drought in California is not chiefly the result of low precipitation. Three factors — rising temperatures, groundwater depletion, and a shrinking Colorado River — mean the most populous U.S. state will face decades of water shortages and must adapt.

By Glen MacDonald