Archive: Climate Change
Record highs vs. lows reveal shifting climate
* Trending cloudy; showers? Full Forecast | Autumn photos in D.C. * Each bar shows the proportion of record highs (red) to record lows (blue) by decade, as observed at about 1,800 weather stations in the continental United States from...
By Andrew Freedman | November 18, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (16)
Australian PM unloads on 'climate skeptics'
* Ida brings shower chances: Full Forecast | Enter our photo contest * In September, I wrote a column arguing that President Obama should give a high-profile speech on climate science to raise sagging public awareness of scientific findings, and...
By Andrew Freedman | November 10, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (6)
Remarkable fall storm showed links to El Niño
* Full Forecast | October recap | This week: Our Winter Outlook * Snowfall amounts from Oct. 27-29 in north and northeast Colorado. Courtesy of NOAA/National Weather Service. Two images capture a remarkable storm that dumped record snow last week...
By Andrew Freedman | November 3, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (9)
Global warming poll finds puzzling trend
* D.C. Area Forecast | Enter our photo contest * A recent climate change poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has spawned collective head-scratching in the media, including with yours truly. The poll found...
By Andrew Freedman | October 26, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (25)
For climate activists, '350' is a call to action
Weekend events in D.C. and worldwide * Sunshine now, but for how long? Full Forecast | Earthquake weather * The Maldives government holds a recent cabinet meeting underwater to call attention to threats posed by climate change. Credit: AFP/Ho. As...
By Andrew Freedman | October 21, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (20)
Record Cold Exposes Climate Misconceptions
* Highs in the 40s? Our Full Forecast | October is Great (Usually) * If record summertime heat waves mean that climate change may already be affecting us, does an early-fall cold snap mean the opposite? An early surge of...
By Andrew Freedman | October 14, 2009; 10:40 AM ET | Comments (40)
Another Slapshot in Climate 'Hockey Stick' Faceoff
* Full Forecast | Autumn Activities | Reasons to Love Fall * Hockey stick chart from the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report, showing Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures (departures from the 1961-1990 average, in degrees Celsius) of the past 1,000 years....
By Andrew Freedman | October 5, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (38)
The Inevitable Doom & Gloom of Global Warming
* Our Full Forecast | Amazing D.C. Sunrise | Condoms & Climate * Doomsday Graphic by CWG's Steve Tracton I write this article with extreme trepidation given the flamethrower rhetoric witnessed in this blog and elsewhere regarding the reality-versus-fiction debate...
By Steve Tracton | October 1, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (15)
Wear a Condom... Save the Planet?
* Our Full Forecast | NatCast | Reflecting on Hurricane Gloria * As if the climate debate wasn't hot enough, now sex is part of it too. According to recent studies, family planning programs such as distributing condoms could be...
By Andrew Freedman | September 29, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (9)
Goals of Major U.N. Climate Meeting Unclear
* Staying Warm: Full Forecast | Obama Should Make a Climate Speech * In a sign of determination mixed with desperation, world leaders will gather in New York tomorrow for a United Nations-sponsored forum on climate change that is aimed...
By Andrew Freedman | September 21, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (6)
Poll: A Cup of Climate With Your Weather?
* Full Forecast Through Weekend | Summer or Fall: Which Is It? * If you think the health care debate is heated -- just wait. Climate change looms as the next hot topic in this nation's political discourse, especially as...
By Dan Stillman | September 17, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
Videos: Freedman, Morano Clash on Climate
* Clouds Replace Sun: Full Forecast | What Season Is It? * Global Warming Debate Over? Freedman: Obama Needs to Talk Science CWG's Andrew Freedman is interviewed on Clean Skies News, Sept. 14, 2009. Is the Global Warming Debate Over?...
By Capital Weather Gang | September 16, 2009; 12:45 PM ET | Comments (0)
Joe Wilson, Civility, and Climate Change
When Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina uttered his infamous "You Lie!" heckle of President Obama during last week's Joint Session of Congress, one thought ran through my mind. "Oh no," I whispered to myself, "it's finally happened. There is...
By Andrew Freedman | September 14, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (43)
A Skeptical Take on Global Warming
* Freedman: Response to Climate Depot Distortions -- New Comments * This Capital Weather Gang blog entry is written with considerable trepidation given the politically-charged atmosphere surrounding human-induced global warming. I am a meteorologist with a life-long weather fascination. As...
By Matt Rogers | September 10, 2009; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (226)
Learn How Scientists Predict Climate Change
Wx and the City Next week, the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences, in partnership with the National Environmental Education Foundation, is hosting a lecture on the "Emerging Science of Climate Change." Dr. Michael Winton, an...
By Ann Posegate | September 10, 2009; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
Response to Climate Depot's Distortions
Climate Depot's home page yesterday featuring the "shock" blog post by CWG's Andrew Freedman. Dear Mr. Morano of Climate Depot, Your lengthy response to my piece "Obama Needs to Give a Climate Speech - ASAP" contains numerous errors of fact...
By Andrew Freedman | September 2, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (54)
Obama Needs to Give a Climate Speech - ASAP
President Obama delivers a speech. White House photo 2/9/09 by Pete Souza. Courtesy WhiteHouse.gov At this point in their presidency, which president -- George W. Bush or Barack Obama -- had made three climate science speeches or statements, including one...
By Andrew Freedman | September 1, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (60)
Making Hotter Augusts Not Quite as Hot in D.C.
Wx and the City * Cool Down Is Here: Full Forecast | Hurricane Tracking Center * The abundance of paved surfaces in urban areas often leads to temperatures several degrees warmer than in nearby rural locations. The so-called Urban Heat...
By Ann Posegate | August 31, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (23)
Climate Study Projects Hotter Augusts for D.C.
* A Very Warm Week: Full Forecast | NatCast * Washington, DC like Orlando from Climate Central on Vimeo. August in the Mid-Atlantic is notorious for its heat and humidity, which has long driven an annual exodus of official and...
By Andrew Freedman | August 24, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (34)
Studies Rekindle Hurricane-Climate Change Debate
* Another Hot One, P.M. Storms? Full Forecast | NatCast * * Hurricane Camille 40 Years Later | Hurricane Tracking Station * Satellite image of Hurricane Bill last night. Courtesy NOAA. Here we go again. Another hurricane season has swung...
By Andrew Freedman | August 18, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (6)
Climate Change & National Security: A Tough Sell
* Heat to Depart, Storms Possible: Full Forecast * Marine amphibious landing vehicle participating in a recent exercise in the Pacific. (Defense Department photo) Climate change is rarely featured on the front pages of top U.S. newspapers, such as...
By Andrew Freedman | August 11, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (12)
Climate Change and the Scary Jellyfish Scourge
* Hot and humid: Full Forecast * A Chrysaora jellyfish. Image courtesy NOAA. This summer has seen its share of odd climate change-related science stories. A running theme has been changes in the size and abundance of species as a...
By Andrew Freedman | August 3, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (40)
Summer 2009: Northwest Sizzles, Texas Withers
* Severe T-Storm Watch: Full Forecast | A Good Time to Watch Clouds * * Outside Now? Radar, Temps, Clouds & More: Weather Wall * The idiosyncratic summer of 2009 continues, with the Pacific Northwest experiencing an extremely unusual heat...
By Andrew Freedman | July 31, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (9)
A Cool Summer Here, But Not Everywhere
* Our Full Forecast | NatCast | D.C. A Summer Sweet Spot * Recent astronaut photograph of Mount Tambora Volcano, whose 1815 eruption was linked to the 1816 "Year Without a Summer." This year, there's no volcano to blame for...
By Andrew Freedman | July 22, 2009; 10:40 AM ET | Comments (19)
University Release Misleads Media on Climate
* Moisture Moves Back Into Town: Full Forecast | NatCast * "Global warming: our best guess is likely wrong," declared the headline of a press release from Rice University in Texas last week. The release, concerning a study on an...
By Andrew Freedman | July 20, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (15)
Can Wind Farms Change the Weather?
* Summer Tries to Sizzle: Full Forecast | TWC's New Morning Show * Courtesy ecopartnership.gov. Large-scale wind farms, consisting of hundreds to thousands of wind turbines spread over large areas for generating electricity, are likely to play an increasingly important...
By Steve Tracton | July 15, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (19)
Heartland Responds to CWG Climate Commentary
* Full Forecast | NatCast | Lightning Safety | Cars w/ Weather Names * In response to a June 18 commentary by CWG's Steve Tracton critical of a recent climate conference sponsored by the Heartland Institute, Heartland's senior fellow for...
By Capital Weather Gang | June 25, 2009; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (9)
Think Tank Reverses Course on Climate Lobbying
* Related Story: The Sureness of Global Warming Skeptics * When the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free-market think tank, sponsored a conference of climate change skeptics in D.C. earlier this month, it directly contradicted the group's assertion that it was...
By Andrew Freedman | June 18, 2009; 01:15 PM ET | Comments (2)
New Climate Report Details Mid-Atlantic Impacts
* Summer Interrupted: Full Forecast | Outside Now? Weather Wall * * WaPo: Report on Warming Offers New Details | Green Section * Yesterday, the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) released the most thorough report ever written on...
By Ann Posegate | June 17, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (12)
Climate Change Kills 300,000 People, Plausible?
* Week Starts Sunny, To Turn Stormy: Full Forecast * A report released last week claiming that climate change is responsible for an estimated 300,000 deaths per year worldwide has raised some interesting questions regarding the societal impacts from climate...
By Andrew Freedman | June 1, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (11)
Congress Ponders National Climate Service
A significant shakeup may soon take place within the federal government's weather and climate programs, as the House Science and Technology Committee is scheduled to consider legislation on June 3 that would establish a "National Climate Service" within the National...
By Andrew Freedman | May 26, 2009; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (2)
MIT Climate Study Garners More Attention
* Forecast: Warm Sunshine | NatCast | CWG Summer Outlook * A study in the latest edition of the peer reviewed scientific publication the Journal of Climate shows that, absent effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions, climate change is likely to...
By Andrew Freedman | May 21, 2009; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (21)
Renaming Climate Change - Does it Matter?
* Full Forecast: Gradually Warmer | NatCast * Global warming. Climate Change. Anthropogenic [man-made] climate change. Climate disruption. Voldemort. These are the most popular terms, in descending order, which are currently used to refer to the recent phenomenon of increasing...
By Andrew Freedman | May 18, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (23)
Scientists Suggest Re-framing Emissions Goals
* Cool and damp, but dry weather to return: Full Forecast * "Climate scientists have begun to feel like a bunch of Noahs - thousands of Noahs," University of Victoria in British Columbia climate scientist Andrew Weaver told the British...
By Andrew Freedman | May 11, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (11)
NASA Celebrates Ten Years of Stunning Images
* A Wet Start to Week: Full Forecast | NatCast * Extratropical Cyclones near Iceland posted by NASA on January 2, 2007. Voted by Earth Observatory readers as a "top 10" image. Last week marked the 10th anniversary of NASA's...
By Andrew Freedman | May 4, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (4)
Local Poets Slam on Climate Change
Wx and the City * Full Forecast | Heat Wave Numbers | Protest Not so Green * I am earth... In tune with her Nature From achy knees on rainy days to Mesopotamian clay colored hue Marking spring with swollen...
By Ann Posegate | April 29, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (12)
Greenpeace Protest Ties Up Traffic; Not So Green
* Full Forecast: Heat to Retreat | Heat Wave by the Numbers * By climbing a 140-foot crane and unfurling a large banner around sunrise yesterday, seven Greenpeace protesters made their "Stop Global Warming" message heard loud and clear to...
By Dan Stillman | April 28, 2009; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (13)
Social Science Uncovering New Climate Angles
* Rainy Start to Week: Full Forecast * Every time I am asked if I "believe in global warming," I am reminded of the communications challenge that faces us when confronted with complex issues such as climate change. As detailed...
By Andrew Freedman | April 20, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (18)
Climate Extreme Reporting Presents Challenges
Linking global warming and weather a sticky issue * Increasing Clouds, Rain Tonight: Full Forecast | NatCast * Two recent extreme events - record flooding in Fargo, North Dakota, and deadly drought-related wildfires in southern Australia - have again highlighted...
By Andrew Freedman | April 13, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (33)
Will Misleads Readers on Climate Science - Again
* Early March-like Chill: Full Forecast | Solar Storms * Global climate change has long been a difficult subject for journalists to cover, given its fusion of complex earth science concepts with heated partisan politics. There are numerous pitfalls one...
By Andrew Freedman | April 7, 2009; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (107)
Geoengineering Our Way Out of Global Warming
* Nice Weekend? Full Forecast | Cherry Blossom Coverage * An increasing number of prominent climate scientists and environmentalists (e.g., here and here) are expressing concerns that the point of no return -- when even the most extreme measures to...
By Steve Tracton | April 2, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (15)
Weather, Climate and Blossom Bloom Dates
Wx and the City * April Showers? Full Forecast | Cherry Blossom Poems * It's that time of year again: peak bloom time for Yoshino cherry trees around the city. This year, peak bloom is predicted to be April 1-4,...
By Ann Posegate | March 31, 2009; 12:45 PM ET | Comments (0)
NY Times Climate Story Stirs Controversy
NASA's Hansen clashes with famous physicist on climate * Dry Start to Work Week: Full Forecast | Later: Blossom Photos * Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story, "The Civil Heretic," on prominent physicist Freeman Dyson's stance on climate change...
By Andrew Freedman | March 30, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (36)
Bob Ryan Challenged to Climate Change Debate
NBC 4 Chief Meteorologist Bob Ryan, who recently wrote a lengthy online series of articles on global climate change that was covered here, has earned praise from a prominent environmentalist, and scorn from a Department of Energy worker who challenged...
By Andrew Freedman | March 17, 2009; 10:15 AM ET | Comments (167)
Heartland Institute Criticizes CWG's Climate Post
* And Yet Another Gray Day: Full Forecast * In response to my March 11 story "Dueling Climate Meetings Aim to Steer Policy," the Capital Weather Gang (CWG) received the following message from Joseph Bast, the president of the Chicago-based...
By Andrew Freedman | March 16, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (49)
Dueling Climate Meetings Aim to Steer Policy
* Last Taste of Spring for a While: Our Full Forecast * Contrasting messages emerged this week from two diametrically opposed conferences on climate science. At the Heartland Institute's "International Conference on Climate Change," scientists and policy advocates asserted that...
By Andrew Freedman | March 11, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (21)
Bob Ryan Weighs in on Climate Change
* Big Warm-Up: Full Forecast | Best of Snowstorm Comments * Beneath WRC-TV (NBC4) chief meteorologist Bob Ryan's sandy blond, made-for-television facade, lie some serious scientific chops. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's in atmospheric science,...
By Andrew Freedman | March 5, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (10)
Snowmen Rally Against Global Warming
* Sloppy Weekend? Full Forecast | More Pathetic: Winter or Wizards? * In response to Andrew Freedman's Monday post about new, higher warming projections, snowmen gathered in a far away, snowy location to stage a massive protest... Idea adapted from:...
By Capital Weather Gang | February 26, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (5)
Citizen Science & Global Change: What You Can Do
Wx and the City * Getting Warmer: Full Forecast | More Pathetic: Winter or Wizards? * A Missouri farmer and son collected hailstones in spring 1975 for Project Dustorm, a collaborative project to examine thunderstorms and hail formation. Courtesy University...
By Ann Posegate | February 25, 2009; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (5)
MIT Group Increases Global Warming Projections
Report: High odds of warming over 5°C (9°F) if no action Warming possibilities for "no policy" and policy scenarios between 1990 and 2100. Size of pie slice indicates the likelihood of a given amount of warming under the different scenarios....
By Andrew Freedman | February 23, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (83)
Weather Channel Founder Talks Climate 'Scam'
* Wind-Chilled Friday, Weekend Flakes? Our Full Forecast * GOOD Magazine has an illuminating interview with San Diego TV weatherman and Weather Channel founder John Coleman, who is an outspoken critic of mainstream climate science. Coleman doubts that humans are...
By Andrew Freedman | February 20, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (71)
Warming Changes Where Birds Wait Out Winter
Wx and the City * Poll: Warm Weather Affecting You? | Windy Tomorrow: Full Forecast * The American Robin now waits out winter over 200 miles further north than where it did 40 years ago. Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish...
By Ann Posegate | February 11, 2009; 11:05 AM ET | Comments (3)
Australians Link Climate Change and Deadly Fires
* Very Warm for Next Two Days: Full Forecast * The deadliest bushfires in Australian history continue to rage out of control, having already claimed at least 181 lives, according to the BBC. As the country takes stock of the...
By Andrew Freedman | February 10, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (81)
Caution: Giant Snakes Ahead
* A Mild Work Week: Full Forecast | Magenta Sky Photography * In case you weren't already concerned about the many effects of global climate change, such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels and extreme weather events, last week brought...
By Andrew Freedman | February 9, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (12)
Science Group Erred Giving Hansen Top Honor
* Calmer Weather But Still Cold. Storm Next Week? Full Forecast * It normally does not make news when the American Meteorological Society (AMS) gives out awards at its annual meetings, but this year is an exception. At their 2009...
By Andrew Freedman | January 29, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (33)
Are Scientists Overselling Climate Models?
* Milder for Now: Full Forecast | 2008 Warm, But Coolest Since 2001 * According to a 2007 report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of hundreds of scientists that assesses and reports on climate...
By Steve Tracton | January 22, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (33)
2008 Was Warm, But Coolest Since 2001
* Warming Up? Full Forecast | Inauguration: Staying Warm Wasn't Easy * In light of the recent record-breaking cold snap that has gripped much of North America and Europe, it seems more appropriate to write about an impending ice age...
By Andrew Freedman | January 21, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (30)
A Treasure Trove of U.S. Weather Records
Climate Warming Reveals Itself on Web Site * Calm Before the Cold: Full Forecast | InaugurationCast * By Robert Henson If you're a climatology connoisseur like me, and you haven't yet seen the "U.S. Records" site provided by NOAA's National...
By Jason Samenow | January 12, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (5)
Where Will Obama Lead NOAA?
Weather and oceans agency awaits new head * Late-Week Storm? Full Forecast * Given the incoming Obama administration's emphasis on tackling global climate change and restoring scientific integrity in policymaking, federal science agencies that had taken a back seat under...
By Andrew Freedman | December 8, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (12)
Politico Falls Into Climate Coverage Trap
Outspoken critics of mainstream climate science briefly celebrated last week when the online political news outlet Politico published two articles that asserted there is a "growing accumulation of global cooling science" that may stymie passage of climate change legislation in...
By Andrew Freedman | December 2, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (15)
Weather Channel Cuts Earn Mixed Reviews
Word that NBC had fired a handful of on camera meteorologists at The Weather Channel and canceled the network's only climate change news program struck a nerve with many Capital Weather Gang readers, who commented in droves during the weekend...
By Andrew Freedman | November 24, 2008; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (24)
Freedman: Dirty Skies -- the ABCs of "ABCs"
*** Coming Wednesday: CWG's Winter Outlook | Full Forecast *** Satellite image of smog over Beijing, China in March, 2006. Courtesy NASA (click here for more on this image). "Atmospheric Brown Clouds" don't sound like a lovely weather phenomenon. After...
By Andrew Freedman | November 17, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (16)
Freedman: Warming up to Adaptation
When he takes the oath of office on January 20th, President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a sobering climate change and energy challenge. Global emissions of greenhouse gases continue to increase, driving up global average surface temperatures and leading to widespread...
By Andrew Freedman | November 10, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (11)
Freedman: Planning Your Global Warming Vacation
Will the icy Arctic landscape be a tourist destination in future decades? Image courtesy NOAA. Whether it is by writing about melting Arctic sea ice or covering the scientific evidence pointing to increasingly intense hurricanes, reporting most climate change science...
By Andrew Freedman | October 27, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (22)
Will an Economic Downturn Benefit the Climate?
"It's a cruel thing to say ... but if we are looking at a slowdown in the economy, there will be less fossil fuels burning, so for the climate it could be an advantage" - Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize-winning...
By Andrew Freedman | October 20, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (17)
Freedman: Candidates May Shift Climate Research
In an article last week, I explored the climate science positions of the Republican and Democratic tickets. The story made clear that both presidential candidates agree with the consensus view of the scientific community that recent climate change is mainly...
By Andrew Freedman | October 13, 2008; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (31)
The Candidates on Climate Change Science
Unlike the two most recent presidential elections, when there were stark differences between the candidates' views on climate science and policy, this year three of the four candidates for president and vice president agree with the scientific consensus on climate...
By Andrew Freedman | October 6, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (21)
Biden, Palin Clash on Climate Change
In case you missed it, or want to watch it all over again, the video below shows the portion of last night's vice presidential debate focused on climate change. Which candidate do you think won the climate change issue? What...
By Dan Stillman | October 3, 2008; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (72)
Global Warming is Real, O.K.?
Better prediction of local effects needed Observed changes in global average surface temperature. Changes are relative to corresponding averages for the period 1961-1990. Smoothed curves represent decadal average values while circles show yearly values. The shaded areas are the uncertainty...
By Steve Tracton | September 30, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (56)
Freedman: Climate News from the Arctic to Texas
This was a busy week in climate-related news, so let's get right to it, shall we? First up was the finding that the Arctic summer melt season of 2008 has ended without breaking a new sea ice loss record. Instead,...
By Andrew Freedman | September 22, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (19)
Stormy Science: Hurricanes and Climate Change
The recent string of tropical cyclones that have struck the United States has showcased the nation's vulnerability to nature's most powerful storms. Last week Hurricane Ike nearly played out as a worst-case scenario for Galveston and Houston, Texas, and New...
By Andrew Freedman | September 16, 2008; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (5)
Freedman: Weather Almanacs Grapple with Warming
As the field of meteorology becomes more sophisticated, with technologies like phased-array radar and petascale computers, there are still some stalwarts who prefer to rely instead on offbeat techniques to predict the weather far in advance. Although most scientists deride...
By Andrew Freedman | September 15, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (12)
Freedman: Climate-Hurricane Debate Yet to Come?
Hurricane Ike as it approached Cuba. Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA. This hurricane season has been a destructive one for the United States, with five consecutive tropical cyclones making landfall so far, while a sixth storm -- Ike -- now threatens...
By Andrew Freedman | September 10, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (25)
Freedman: Coalition Advises Candidates on Climate
A coalition of earth science organizations representing thousands of scientists recently did something that you don't often see scientists do: they publicly united to deliver a challenge to political leaders in the midst of a heated political season. By calling...
By Andrew Freedman | August 25, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (4)
Freedman: Hot Weather, Heated Political Rhetoric
With high gas prices this summer, a bitter political debate erupted regarding drilling for oil and gas in offshore areas in order to increase the supply of gasoline and lower prices at the pump. Since climate change is inextricably tied...
By Andrew Freedman | August 22, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (20)
Freedman: Hot Summers in our Future
A new study shows that in future summers, many parts of the world may experience unusually hot weather that more closely resembles conditions found today in places like Death Valley, California and the Sahara Desert in Africa. The study, published...
By Andrew Freedman | August 18, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (28)
Freedman: In-flight Magazines and Polar Bears
Ah yes, the dog days of summer, when even the CNN news crawl seems to slow to an actual crawl. This is the time of year when it's fun to pick out a few stories that might otherwise sail past...
By Andrew Freedman | August 11, 2008; 10:39 AM ET | Comments (7)
Freedman: Achenbach Off on Weather & Warming
On Sunday, the Washington Post ran an opinion piece on climate change by Joel Achenbach, a Post reporter and fellow washingtonpost.com blogger. While he made several good points about the perils of attributing individual extreme weather events to long-term climate...
By Andrew Freedman | August 7, 2008; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (12)
Freedman: Time to Play God With Wildlife?
Climate change continues to prompt a reexamination of how humans view our role on the planet. A new study, published in Science magazine by several conservation biologists, argues that due to the possibility of climate change-related habitat destruction, conservationists should...
By Andrew Freedman | July 28, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Freedman: First Half of 2008 Was Warm Worldwide
The weather so far in 2008 in the Mid-Atlantic region, and across much of the globe, has been warmer than average, government climate data shows. This should come as no surprise, since above average temperatures are expected with global warming....
By Andrew Freedman | July 21, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Freedman: Arctic Sea Ice Watch 2008 Update
As the Mid-Atlantic basks in characteristically warm mid-July weather, in the Far North, trends are emerging that are anything but normal. With the summer sun high in the Arctic sky, scientists recently reported that the sea ice that helps define...
By Andrew Freedman | July 14, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Freedman: Ocean Acidification - The Sleeper Issue
If I were to rank climate change impacts in terms of sexiness or pizazz, ocean acidification would rank near the bottom of the list. The relatively slow, unseen process would be well behind the drama of highly visible shifts such...
By Andrew Freedman | July 7, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (10)
Freedman: Why Is James Hansen So Worried?
James Hansen, the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, has had it with policymakers' lack of progress to address global climate change, and he is not afraid to let them know it. In commemoration of...
By Andrew Freedman | June 30, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
North Pole Ice Could Briefly Disappear
Scientists say there's a 50-50 chance that, for the first time in human history, the North Pole will go ice-free for a time this summer. Here's a short summary from FOXNews.com, and a more in-depth story from The Independent. Also...
By Dan Stillman | June 27, 2008; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (0)
Freedman: Increasingly Going to Extremes
As a swollen Mississippi River breached levees last week, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program released a report that warned of more heavy precipitation events and associated flooding in the coming years due to global climate change. The report, entitled...
By Andrew Freedman | June 24, 2008; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (41)
Freedman: Explaining an Extreme Spring
This spring's weather sounds like it was crafted from a pitch meeting between a hapless Hollywood screenwriter and a studio executive. The pitch? "It's a movie in which flooding inundates downtown middle America, tornadoes strike boy scouts, strong winds lash...
By Andrew Freedman | June 17, 2008; 10:15 AM ET | Comments (40)
Freedman: Climate News from the Arctic to Kiribati
With presidential politics dominating much of the news coverage last week, along with the D.C. area thunderstorms and the heat, there were several climate change science news items that may have slipped past your Doppler 9000. First up was another...
By Andrew Freedman | June 9, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (8)
Freedman: Is Climate Change Twisting Tornadoes?
The 2008 tornado season is off to such an abnormally active and deadly start that even typically storm-hardy residents of tornado-prone areas of the country have begun asking: what is going on? For example, on May 21, the New York...
By Andrew Freedman | June 2, 2008; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (45)
Oval Office Debate on Global Warming?
AccuWeather senior meteorologist Joe Bastardi has some advice for the President-elect to be: Within the first 100 days of office, get the top five SCIENTISTS on both sides of the issue in front of you in the oval office and...
By Capital Weather Gang | May 19, 2008; 06:30 PM ET | Comments (16)
Freedman: Arctic Sea Ice May Set Record Low
The Interior Department's decision last week to list the polar bear as a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) may soon be seen as either a prescient move, or possibly even as too little too late, if scientists'...
By Andrew Freedman | May 19, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Bangladesh's Example for a Post-Nargis World
Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which exacted a staggering human toll on the politically isolated and poor country of Myanmar, has demonstrated once again that there is an urgent need for a more robust infrastructure in developing countries for issuing and disseminating...
By Andrew Freedman | May 14, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (35)
Warming North Pole, More Complex South
A team of 30 scientists reports on the contrasting climate shifts that are taking place in the Arctic and Antarctic. While the Arctic is clearly warming, one manmade environmental crisis -- ozone destruction -- is having more sway in Antarctica....
By Andrew Freedman | May 9, 2008; 07:00 PM ET | Comments (4)
Freedman: Global Warming Has Not Been Canceled
Many stories were written last week about a study in the scientific journal Nature [subscription required] showing that, during the next few years, naturally shifting ocean currents may offset some of the greenhouse gas-induced warming trend for parts of North...
By Andrew Freedman | May 5, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
In Focus: Greenhouse Gas Increases Accelerating
More detailed measurements encouraged Global average CO2 concentrations since 2004 (monthly values in red, long-term trend in black). Click here to enlarge. Credit: NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced last week that increases in two major greenhouse gases...
By Steve Scolnik | April 30, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (8)
Freedman: Three Statistics for Climate Change Talks
Recently, representatives of 17 nations met in Paris as part of the Bush administration's initiative to engage the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters to reduce the emissions that are contributing to global climate change. You can probably guess how much...
By Andrew Freedman | April 28, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (29)
Freedman: A Harsh Climate for Optimism
While there are many reasons to be enthusiastic about environmental progress on this Earth Day week, it's difficult for people in the climate science community to be in a celebratory mood at the moment. Despite the abundant attention devoted to...
By Andrew Freedman | April 22, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (49)
Freedman: The Price of Al Gore's Climate Battle
To a climate change contrarian, Al Gore is a one-man axis of evil. By publicizing the dangers of global climate change, and now launching one of the most expensive and far-reaching issue advocacy campaigns of at least the past several...
By Andrew Freedman | April 7, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (246)
Freedman: Climate Change Low on Public Agenda
The American public does not view global climate change as a top tier problem facing the country today, according to a recent Gallup poll. The poll found that "the economy in general" topped the list, followed by the Iraq War...
By Andrew Freedman | March 31, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (11)
Shoveling Out From a Snow Job
At a recent dinner seminar that I attended, upon hearing that I was a Capital Weather Gang member, an otherwise respectable appearing gentleman asked me how global warming could be occurring in light of the "record-breaking cold winter." I must...
By Steve Scolnik | March 28, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (20)
Freedman: To Be Renovated
In a small corner of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, past the dinosaur exhibit with its throngs of stroller-pushing tourists and beyond the Dinosaur Cafe that sells overpriced salads, lies an exhibit on ice ages that proclaims that...
By Andrew Freedman | March 3, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Bucket O' Bookmarks: BudBurst
Citizen scientists sought Cinquefoil wildflowers in Colorado. (Photo by Carlye Calvin, ©UCAR.) Gardeners, for years you've been relying on data from meteorologists to plan your activities; now you have a chance to repay the favor by helping climate research. The...
By Steve Scolnik | February 15, 2008; 06:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
Freedman: The Meaning of an Asterisk
What do last year's abnormally warm year worldwide and Barry Bonds' home run record have in common? They both may need an asterisk to signify that someone has been cooking the books. When baseball slugger Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home...
By Andrew Freedman | February 10, 2008; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (22)
Climate Corner: Acting Locally
100-year flood plain, from Maryland Department of the Environment. Click on image to enlarge. A working group of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change met today in Reisterstown, as reported by AP (via Baltimore's WJZ-TV), to work on its...
By Steve Scolnik | February 8, 2008; 06:00 PM ET | Comments (11)
Media: Weather for the Eyes and Ears
New shows available in audio and video, online and on TV Coming soon to the National Geographic Channel is Six Degrees Could Change the World, based on the book, Six Degrees, which was just released in the U.S. after being...
By Steve Scolnik | February 5, 2008; 07:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
Freedman: How Should we "Focus the Nation?"
This past week, more than 1,000 institutions of learning, mainly colleges and universities, participated in "Focus the Nation," a national "teach-in" on global climate change science and solutions. The event was aimed at raising awareness of climate change and ways...
By Andrew Freedman | February 3, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (8)
551.5: Book Nook
551.5 is the Dewey Decimal System classification for meteorology. In his post last weekend, Ground Truth, Andrew points out that seeing is believing: Because climate change "exists beyond our field of vision it's hard to be completely convinced of its...
By Steve Scolnik | January 23, 2008; 07:30 PM ET | Comments (10)
Climate Corner: Myth-tery Science Theater 2008
One of the major myths of the climate change saga comes in for some major debunking at a session Wednesday of the 20th Conference on Climate Variability and Change, which is meeting in conjunction with the 88th Annual Meeting of...
By Steve Scolnik | January 22, 2008; 07:50 PM ET | Comments (0)
Freedman: Ground Truth
"Seeing is believing" is a saying that can mean a great deal in life. It is typically used in conversation to refer to something strange that happened that no one would have believed could happen until it actually happened, like...
By Andrew Freedman | January 20, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (16)
