Are Natural Disasters On The Rise?

Natural disasters have filled our news in recent weeks. They wreak havoc in poor and vulnerable communities and cost billions in recovery and aid funding.

Heavy rains following Hurricane Florence have raised concerns over the release of toxic materials. Ash from coal-fired power plants stored at a landfill has spilled out and the state of North Carolina has said dozens of sites have released hog waste or are at risk of doing so.

Hurricane Florence is heading toward the U.S. coast, right at the height of hurricane season. Hurricanes can cause immense damage due to the winds, waves and rain, not to mention the chaos as the general population prepares for severe weather. The latter is getting more relevant, as the monetary damage from disasters is trending up. The growing coastal population and infrastructure, as well as rising sea level, likely contribute to this increase in costs of damage.

During the past week, bitterly cold weather has engulfed the UK and most of Northern Europe. At the same time, temperatures in the high Arctic have been 10 to 20°C above normal – although still generally below freezing.

After an unusually intense heat wave, downpour, or drought, Noah Diffenbaugh and his research group inevitably get phone calls and emails asking whether human-caused climate change played a role.

As the planet warms, rainfall and weather patterns will change. As temperatures rise, the amount of water in the atmosphere will increase.

You’ve probably heard about El Niño, the climate system that brings dry and often hotter weather to Australia over summer.

These days, after an extreme weather event like a cyclone, bushfire, or major storm, it’s common to find people asking: was it climate change?

Cities and towns across Europe are warned to adapt to the battering they face from intense storms as extreme weather events become more frequent.

Sea level changes in the Pacific Ocean let scientists estimate future global average surface temperatures, a new report shows.

This past July was the hottest single month in Earth’s recorded history, but warming isn’t the only danger climate change holds in store.

Scientists say recent work to unravel the mysteries of the Atlantic jet stream could pay off with better long-term forecasts of summer weather.

The 2015-16 El Niño has likely reached its end. Tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures, trade winds, cloud and pressure patterns have all dropped back to near normal, although clearly the event’s impacts around the globe are still being felt.

Drought has spread in several provinces of Mindanao Island. Photo from the Facebook page of RMP-NMR Rising temperatures and water shortages are affecting many countries in Southeast Asia, thanks to the El Niño climate phenomenon.

According to a new report published in “Nature” on April 20, 2016 by Patrick Egan and Megan Mullin, weather conditions have “improved” for the vast majority of Americans over the past 40 years. This, they argue, explains why there has been little public demand so far for a policy response to climate change.

Analysis of air samples shows that the cleansing effect of heavy rainfall is diminished by organic particles spattering up into the atmosphere from the soil.

Midwestern farmers usually fare well during years that El Niño weather patterns affect the growing season.

The weather might seem like it creates weeks of dreary, grey drizzle. But it can also put on a truly sensational – and, often, deadly – show. But what explains these explosive events?

This is the year of obscure atmospheric phenomenon. The polar vortex chilled everyone’s winter. Methane releases might be carving mysterious craters in the Arctic ice. And blocking patterns got the blame for Colorado’s so-called thousand-year flood.

A new study shows that there is at least a 76 percent likelihood that an El Niño event will occur later this year, potentially reshaping global weather patterns for a year or more and raising the odds that 2015 will set a record for the warmest year since instrument records began in the late 19th century.

Record cold temperatures are being recorded across the Midwest and Eastern United States again today as a so-called polar vortex of dense, frigid air has descended as far south as Texas and Florida.

As extreme weather events become more common because of climate change, the mobile phone is increasingly being recognised as an important tool for warnings that can not only save lives – but also, in Brazil, the coffee crop.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center released its Spring Outlook on March 21. The big story for the upcoming spring: relief for many drought-stricken areas of the United States is not likely.

Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring - but boy was he wrong! So what's causing these frigid temperatures and winter conditions to stick around across much of the US?

NOAA issued the 2013 three-month U.S. Spring Outlook, stating that odds favor above-average temperatures across much of the continental United States, including drought-stricken areas of Texas, the Southwest and the Great Plains.

After a record year in 2012, will 2013 continue the trend? According to the February State of The Climate summary from NOAA, this winter has been warmer and wetter in much of the continental US. We will have to wait for the March summary to see if temperatures topple the record for March of 2012.

Australia ramped up its military response to deadly flooding in the country's northeast Tuesday, as troops prepared for a massive clean-up operation following storms which killed four and left thousands of homes swamped.