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At a Glance: May 2018 was the hottest in 124 years of May records across the Lower 48. Eight states broke warmth records and no state was colder than average. Two states had their wettest Mays. May 2018 was the hottest of any May in 124 years of recording keeping for the continental United States, eclipsing the extreme heat of that month in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl era. The average temperature for the Lower 48 states last month was 65.41 degrees Fahrenheit, 5.21 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1901-2000 average, according to the state of the climate report released...

American Airlines Flight 1897 met a storm from hell on Sunday. Strong updrafts tossed the aircraft and thick hail battered its body. The incredible pictures of the plane's destroyed nose captured the world's attention. Meanwhile, though, observers on the ground captured another wild visual: the flight's meandering real-time path as pilots tried to navigate around the worst of the monster storm.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 400,000 could be displaced in a magnitude 7 earthquake on the Hayward fault, which directly runs underneath cities like Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward and Fremont, said Ken Hudnut, the U.S. Geological Survey’s science advisor for risk reduction. And it’s possible that more than 250,000 people in Southern California could be forced out of their homes after a major earthquake on the San Andreas fault, Hudnut said. Not everyone will need to stay in public shelters — many will stay with relatives, friends and hotels. Still, more than 175,000 people may have no other...

When a catastrophic earthquake hits California, buildings will topple and potentially hundreds could be killed. But what gets less attention is the wrenching aftermath of such a huge temblor, which could leave whole neighborhoods torched by fires uninhabitable and hundreds of thousands of people without a home. Officials are grappling with where all these quake refugees would go. In the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 400,000 could be displaced in a magnitude 7 earthquake on the Hayward fault, which directly runs underneath cities like Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward and Fremont, said Ken Hudnut, the U.S. Geological Survey’s science advisor for...

The most dangerous element of the storm is wind: For all the focus on wind speeds and hurricane categories, the real killer is water. Storm surge, the temporary rise in sea level caused by the storm’s winds, causes more fatalities than any other part of the storm. A study of tropical storms and hurricanes from 1963 to 2012 by Edward Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, found that 49 percent of deaths were caused by storm surge, 27 percent by rain and 6 percent by surf. Wind accounted for 8 percent of deaths and tornadoes for 3 percent....

The accident happened on Highway 176 in Polk County while they were covering the impact of heavy rain in that area. Video: Polk County authorities give update on accident Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant said the engine of the SUV was running and the transmission was in drive when authorities arrived at the scene about 2:30 p.m. He said the tree that fell on the SUV was about 3 feet in diameter and had stood back off the road. Tennant said the ground was saturated and the tree's root system failed.

Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a statement announcing the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season. Subtropical Storm Alberto had formed in the northeastern Caribbean, just off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico. Most of us are familiar with the term “Tropical” storm. But what exactly is a “Sub”tropical storm? A subtropical storm is actually a hybrid of an extratropical storm, and a tropical storm. So we’ll identify all three types of storms. EXTRA-TROPICAL STORM An extratropical storm has a cold core at its central point. It is often associated with frontal zones, such...

Subtropical Storm Alberto is picking up a little speed and getting slightly stronger as it continues moving north in the Gulf of Mexico toward the Florida Panhandle, the National Hurricane Center said in a 7 a.m. update Sunday (May 27). The storm had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and was moving north at 15 mph, the report said. It was located about 165 miles southwest of Tampa, Fla. A turn toward the north-northwest at a slower forward speed is forecast Sunday night. A north-northwestward to northward motion is expected Tuesday through early Wednesday, the Hurricane Center said. On the...

Subtropical Storm Alberto has formed in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, hurricane forecasters said at 9 a.m. Friday. Alberto is the first named Atlantic storm of 2018, and has formed ahead of the traditional hurricane season which begins June 1. The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and rip currents to the Gulf Coast through Memorial Day weekend. Here's the current forecast cone for the storm:The main difference between a subtropical storm and tropical storm is core temperature, according to Shawn O'Neil, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Slidell. Subtropical storms have slightly lower core temperatures than...

A low pressure system heading for the Gulf of Mexico has an 80 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression this week, the National Hurricane Center said in its Thursday morning forecast (May 24). The system called Invest 90L is gradually becoming better defined, forecasters said, and is expected to bring heavy rains to the Gulf Coast during Memorial Day weekend. Rip currents also are a threat from Louisiana to Florida. A tropical depression is likely to form by late Saturday over the southeast Gulf of Mexico, forecasters said. If it strengthens to a tropical storm, it will be called...

The National Hurricane Center increased the chances that a mass of clouds and storms in the Caribbean could become something tropical, designating it the first “invest” of the year. So called invest 90-L has a 40 percent chance of becoming a tropical or sub tropical system as it moves north into the Gulf of Mexico over the next five days.The word invest is short for investigation – an area to look more closely at for potential development. The hurricane center numbers them 90 to 99 with the letter L, which stands for Atlantic. Another update on invest 90-L will be...

Hurricane forecasters on Monday (May 21) were tracking a weather disturbance they say has a low chance of developing into a tropical depression this week in the Gulf of Mexico. It has the potential to make things wet in New Orleans for Memorial Day weekend. As of 7:30 a.m. Monday, the weather disturbance was in the Caribbean Sea and extended across Cuba and the Florida peninsula. It's expected to move into the central or eastern Gulf of Mexico over the next several days.What does it mean for New Orleans? The National Weather Service office in Slidell said the system could...

Inconvenient Science: NASA data show that global temperatures dropped sharply over the past two years. Not that you'd know it, since that wasn't deemed news. Does that make NASA a global warming denier? Writing in Real Clear Markets, Aaron Brown looked at the official NASA global temperature data and noticed something surprising. From February 2016 to February 2018, "global average temperatures dropped by 0.56 degrees Celsius." That, he notes, is the biggest two-year drop in the past century. "The 2016-2018 Big Chill," he writes, "was composed of two Little Chills, the biggest five month drop ever (February to June 2016)...

The demonization of the “miracle molecule,” carbon dioxide, continued last week with the announcement that its concentration had reached 410 parts per million (ppm). Nearly all reporting of this noted that this was the highest level in 800,000 years and predicted a host of associated climate calamities. While the current concentration of this vital gas is about 40% higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution, unreported is that Earth has been suffering from steadily decreasing and perilously low concentrations of CO2. Until the consumption of fossil fuels began liberating this important gas from ancient rocks , the Earth...

Even during times of rapid global warming, loooooong periods of cold weather can occur. April in the U.S. was one of those periods. Despite record warmth elsewhere in the world, it was the 13th-coldest April in the United States, where records date back to 1895. The Upper Midwest was particularly cold — Iowa and Wisconsin had their all-time coldest April while temperatures in surrounding states in the Central and Northeast U.S. were well-below average. From Minnesota to Mississippi, nine states had their coldest April overnight lows. In Minnesota, ice-out came as late in the season as it ever has. Ice-out...

The Patel dam, located on private farmland in western Kenya, had burst its banks after weeks of heavy rain. The rain has pounded East Africa for over a month, killing more than 100 people in Kenya and displacing 260,000. Rwanda and Ethiopia also have been affected by flooding, and about 100,000 people have been displaced in Somalia. Photos circulating on social media show people wading through muddy water, some carrying bodies retrieved in the aftermath of the disaster. Lee Kinyanjui, the governor of Nakuru County, said on Twitter that the water “caused huge destruction of both life & property” and...

The United Nations says an additional round of global climate talks is being scheduled for September ahead of the annual ministerial summit at the end of the year. […] At issue are the precise rules countries have to stick to in fulfilling the 2015 Paris climate accord, as well as questions of funding for poor nations and how to close the gap between what governments have pledged to do and what’s needed to meet the goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. …

Al Gore has been accused of hypocrisy for talking the talk on climate change despite burning through fossil fuels at a rapid clip, but it turns out he’s not alone. A study by Cornell and the University of Michigan researchers found that those “highly concerned” about climate change were less likely to engage in recycling and other eco-friendly behaviors than global-warming skeptics. Published in the April edition of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the one-year study broke 600 participants into three groups based on their level of concern about climate change: “highly concerned,” “cautiously worried,” and “skeptical.” The “highly concerned”...

Pakistan has experienced the world's hottest April day on record, with temperatures peaking at 122.4F (50.2C), according to experts. The Pakistan Meteorological Department confirmed the extreme temperature was recorded in the city of Nawabshah on Monday, April 30, potentially making it the hottest April temperature ever witnessed on Earth. In April, average temperatures in Pakistan range from 64.4F (18C) to 84.2F (29C).

GENEVA — An unexpected snowstorm coupled with high winds killed four climbers in the Swiss Alps and left five others in critical condition early Monday after they became trapped overnight and couldn’t reach shelter, officials said. A total of 14 hikers from France, Germany and Italy were left stranded in the Pigne d’Arolla region, police in southwestern Valais canton said. Authorities deployed seven helicopters as part of rescue efforts. The climbers were caught off-guard by high winds, snow and bitter cold, and were forced to spend the night outdoors, Valais police spokesman Markus Rieder said.