Disasters

"Retreating glaciers threaten the food and water supply of 2 billion people around the world, the UN has warned, as current “unprecedented” rates of melting will have unpredictable consequences."

"With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in."

"U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that seeks to shift responsibility for disaster preparations to state and local governments, deepening his drive to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

"Evacuating the Tahoe basin in summer could take 14 hours, and 99% of properties in South Lake Tahoe are at risk — yet new resorts are being built in high-danger fire areas."

"North Carolina lawmakers agreed Wednesday to spend another $528 million on still-pressing needs from Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding nearly six months ago, with an emphasis on home and private road repairs, agriculture and infrastructure to aid businesses."

"A new analysis of ancient layers of peat at the bottom of the North Sea will help scientists more accurately project how much sea level will rise in the coming decades and centuries. The research shows how fast sea level rose about 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, the last time Earth warmed as fast as it is warming now."

"The devastating impacts of the climate crisis reached new heights in 2024, with scores of unprecedented heatwaves, floods and storms across the globe, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization."

"Russia’s “shadow fleet” of aging oil tankers helps fund the ongoing war but puts the region at risk of more environmental disasters."

"Over the weekend, more than 120 tornadoes rampaged across at least 11 states in a three-day severe weather outbreak that killed more than 40 people. In addition to the tornadoes, the storm system brought extremely strong winds to drought-stricken parts of the plains states, kicking up dust storms and wildfires from Texas to Kansas. The combined impact has now become one of the deadliest non-hurricane weather disasters in decades in the US."