Extreme Weather and Climate Archives - State of the Planet

COVID-19 Highlights the Need to Plan for Joint Disasters

Summertime brings hurricane season, heat waves, wildfires, and flooding. Is the U.S. prepared to deal with extreme weather at the same time as a pandemic?

by |May 22, 2020

Photo Essay: The Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

Researchers survey the damage to Puerto Rico’s forests in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

by |March 22, 2018

Climate Change and the Re-Greening of Puerto Rico

Ecologist Maria Uriarte investigates the effects of Hurricane Maria on the forests of Puerto Rico, and how long-term climate change may affect them.

by |March 22, 2018

Giant Boulders on Bahamas Coast Are Evidence of Ancient Storms and Sea Level, Says Study

A new study says that storms of intensities seen today, combined with a few meters increase in sea level, were enough to transport coastal boulders weighing hundreds of tons more than 100,000 year ago.

by |November 1, 2017

What’s in the Forecast and How Do We Know?

The Earth Institute’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society makes probabilistic forecasts for rainfall and temperature for the next six months. How does it do this?

by |July 12, 2017

Adam Sobel: Preparing for the Next Big Storm

Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call for a lot of people in New York City, including Adam Sobel, who’s spent more than two decades studying the physics of weather and climate.

by |June 12, 2017

Richard Seager Sees Hand of Climate Change in Drought

California’s wet and snowy winter brings welcome relief from a years-long drought that has challenged the state’s water supply and agricultural system. But climate scientist Richard Seager of Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory offers words of caution: Remember what happened, because it will happen again.

by |May 29, 2017

Michelle Ho: In a Land of Plenty, Big Water Problems

Michelle Ho grew up in Australia, the driest inhabited continent, with an appreciation for the value of having a clean glass of water to drink. Now, she conducts research for the Columbia Water Center on America’s water systems.

by |May 1, 2017

Park Williams Discovers History and Science in a Tree Ring

Park Williams studies trees and climate, in particular the causes of drought and the effects of climate change on forests. In this latest in a series of Earth Institute videos, we spoke to him about what he does, what’s important about it, and how his interest in history and environmental science blended into a career.

by |March 24, 2017

Increasing Tornado Outbreaks: Is Climate Change Responsible?

In a paper published in the journal Science, researchers looked at increasing trends in the severity of tornado outbreaks, measured by the number of tornadoes per outbreak. They found that these trends are increasing fastest for the most extreme outbreaks.

by |December 1, 2016