Climate Change

Axios reports: Flooding — which has gotten increasingly severe in an era of extreme weather — costs the U.S. economy an estimated $179.8 to $496 billion per year in 2023 dollars, according to new data from Democrats on the Senate Joint Economic Committee. The estimates are the equivalent of over 1% of 2023’s gross domestic product, the report notes. It …

CNN reports: The planet just marked a “shocking” new milestone, enduring 12 consecutive months of unprecedented heat, according to new data from Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service. Every single month from June 2023 to May 2024 was the world’s hottest such month on record, Copernicus data showed. The 12-month heat streak was “shocking but not surprising” given human-caused …

CNN reports: Daily temperature records will tumble as sizzling early season heat from a summerlike heat dome sends thermometers skyrocketing into the triple digits in parts of California and the West this week. Death Valley, the hottest place in the world, is likely to reach a high temperature of at least 120 degrees by Thursday. The Southwest will start to …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Power outages caused by severe weather Tuesday morning in Dallas County will likely span days as more storms approach the region, officials said. County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins signed a declaration of disaster as more than 322,000 residents were without electricity. Oncor reported more than 600,000 of its customers, including those in Dallas and Tarrant …

CNN reports: Powerful storms are delivering yet another round of violent weather to Texas on Tuesday after an almost unrelenting parade of destructive and sometimes deadly storms in recent weeks. Additional storms will pound more of the Southern Plains throughout the day. Storms were roaring through the Dallas-Fort Worth metro early Tuesday morning, delivering hurricane-force wind gusts and stirring tornado …

USA Today reports: The start of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is just over a week away, and federal forecasters Thursday predicted an “extraordinary” season with as many as 25 named storms possible. This is the most storms the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ever predicted in a preseason outlook. “All the ingredients are in place for an active …

Florida Politics reports: U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott wrote a letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell demanding answers on whether FEMA has the resources needed to assist people in Florida and beyond when tropical systems wreak their inevitable havoc. “It is our understanding that your agency expects the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) to run …

USA Today reports: A wave of sweltering temperatures continues to swamp South Florida with heat index, or “feels like” temperatures, expected to reach 109 degrees in West Palm Beach today and continue with triple digits into Sunday. The National Weather Service in Miami issued a heat advisory for its entire coverage area today, which includes Palm Beach, Broward, Collier, Glades, …

The Washington Post reports: Florida will eliminate climate change as a priority in making energy policy decisions, despite the threats it faces from powerful hurricanes, extreme heat and worsening toxic algae blooms. On Wednesday, the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the legislation, which is set to go into effect on July 1. The measure also removes most references to climate …

The Guardian reports: The plan to break up NOAA is laid out in the Project 2025 document written by more than 350 right wingers and helmed by the Heritage Foundation. Called the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, it is meant to guide the first 180 days of presidency for an incoming Republican president. The document bears the fingerprints of …

Nexstar reports: You may want to clean out the kiddie pool and dust off the patio furniture early this year. We’re in for a hot start to summer, according to a national weather outlook released Thursday by the National Weather Service. All but two states on the new national forecast map are show in shades of orange and red. The …

USA Today reports: An “extremely active” hurricane season is likely, top forecasters from Colorado State University announced Thursday. In fact, the forecast includes the highest number of hurricanes ever predicted in an April forecast by Colorado State since the team began issuing predictions in 1995. Colorado State hurricane forecaster Phil Klotzbach, the author of the forecast, knows what the models …

The New York Times reports: The Triassic was the dawn of the dinosaurs. The Paleogene saw the rise of mammals. The Pleistocene included the last ice ages. Is it time to mark humankind’s transformation of the planet with its own chapter in Earth history, the “Anthropocene,” or the human age? Not yet, scientists have decided, after a debate that has …

The Guardian reports: Ferocious winds continue to thwart firefighters across a broad swathe of Texas on Sunday where the second largest wildfire in US history is only 15% contained after six days. As of Sunday morning the Smokehouse Creek Fire has so far scorched almost 1.1m acres – 1,700 sq miles – across the Texas Panhandle in the north of …

ABC News reports: Several large wildfires continue to tear through the Texas Panhandle, including one that has grown into the largest blaze in state history. At least two people have died in the blazes so far, as the fire threat is expected to continue into the weekend. The largest of the blazes — the Smokehouse Creek Fire — covers an …

Axios reports: Leading climate scientist Michael Mann was awarded $1 million in damages after winning his defamation lawsuit against two conservative writers over their response to his pivotal work on global warming. The University of Pennsylvania professor sued Rand Simberg, a former adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Mark Steyn [photo], a contributor to National Review over their …

Axios reports: Hurricanes are getting so strong in a warming world that a Category 6 intensity should be added to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale, a new study finds. The paper, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, does not represent an official move by the National Hurricane Center to add another hurricane category. Instead, …

The Washington Post reports: President Biden will tap senior adviser John D. Podesta to replace outgoing U.S. special climate envoy John F. Kerry once Kerry steps down this spring, Podesta and other White House officials confirmed to The Washington Post on Wednesday. Podesta now oversees implementation of Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. The law devoted billions of …

The BBC reports: Protesters have thrown soup at the glass-protected Mona Lisa in France, calling for the right to “healthy and sustainable food”. The 16th Century painting by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the world’s most famous artworks, and is held at the Louvre in central Paris. The Louvre said the work was behind protective glass and was not …

The Hill reports: Climate protestors interrupted GOP Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during his event in Iowa Friday night, screaming in his face and calling the biotech entrepreneur “a liar.” Ramaswamy, who has called climate change “a hoax” in the past, was targeted by climate activists during his West Des Moines, Iowa event. Some protestors held yellow signs that said “Vivek: …