FLAMING June. This is likely to turn out to be the coldest summer month for more than 40 years. In most years, that opening word is employed as a straightforward adjective. In 2015, if it is used at all, it is as an expletive. This is likely to turn out to be the coldest summer […]

According to the NOAA, May 2015 was ranked 121 out of 121 for precipitation. Full post

Northeast Greenland saw its coldest May since measurements began in 1949. Climate scientists, environmentalists and politicians worried about man-made global warming sounded the alarm this year when Arctic sea ice levels hit their lowest extent on record for March. Some even warned this could signal an ice-free north pole this summer, or in the near future. […]

Rising seas are eating away at small islands and will eventually turn their inhabitants into climate refugees, right? Not so for some of the world’s most threatened islands, which have grown despite experiencing dramatic sea level rise. (Image: Ashley Cooper/Visuals Unlimited, Inc.) Funafuti atoll, which includes the capital of Tuvalu, is an islet archipelago in the tropical […]

Sea ice extent in Antarctica last month set a new record high for the month of May, according to data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Meanwhile Arctic sea ice extent in May was the third lowest on record but essentially the same as it was a decade ago – marginally […]

Although sea-level changed dramatically when we came out of the Ice Age and in the following millennia, historical sea-level change is a relatively recent thing. From the time of the Romans until about 200 years ago there was very little change in sea level. But then something happened, we know not what, that caused the […]

One of the major questions in climate science is what changes are natural, what changes are forced by increasing levels of greenhouse gasses, and how do they interplay? In a recent paper focusing on changes in northern hemisphere oceanic temperatures Steinman et al (2015) say that knowing the difference between forced and unforced is essential. They […]

But you can be sure that when the current drought in U.S. major hurricane strikes ends, it too will be blamed on humans. As Subtropical Storm Ana churns off the southeast U.S. coast, the global atmosphere has exceeded 400 ppm carbon dioxide content for the first time in…well…who knows? And also on tap for this month (May 25th, […]