NOAA News

US forecasters predict 'above normal' Atlantic hurricane season By AFP Miami - US forecasters on Thursday predicted an "above normal" Atlantic hurricane season with three to six storms of Category 3 or higher.

Warmest oceans on record Could Set Off a Year of Extreme Weather By Karen Graham The world’s seas are simmering, with record high temperatures spurring worry among forecasters that the global warming effect may generate a chaotic year of extreme weather ahead.

Op-Ed: NOAA statement helps Trump tighten his grip on power By Karen Graham The NOAA statement - from an anonymous spokesperson too cowardly to put a signature to it - defending our small-minded leader's petty pronouncement that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama is just another indication of where this country is headed.

Global warming pushing some Pacific salmon to the brink By Karen Graham Pacific salmon populations are critical to local economies and the food chain, yet they are already under pressure from human infrastructure like dams. The climate crisis is turning up the heat.

Climate crisis drives record number of high-tide flooding days By Karen Graham Sea-level rise led to a record number of high-tide flooding days in the United States between May 2018 and April 2019, NOAA said Wednesday. And it could get worse as the climate crisis drives sea levels higher.

Heavy rain, flash floods risk for South through late this week By Karen Graham Dangerous flash flooding is possible today in parts of Texas and Louisiana as tropical moisture streams northward from the Gulf of Mexico. The potential for flooding will continue through the end of this week in other parts of the South.

NOAA: Unprecedented spring flooding is possible for U.S. By Karen Graham Nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states face an elevated risk for flooding through May, with the potential for major or moderate flooding in 25 states, according to NOAA’s U.S. Spring Outlook issued today.

NOAA's GOES satellites: Eyes in the sky tracking hurricanes By Karen Graham Tonight, as three powerful storms march across the Atlantic Ocean, toward the East Coast of the U.S. and Caribbean, another powerful storm is poised to roll over Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. All these storms are being monitored by "eyes-in-the-sky."

Emissions of banned ozone-destroying chemical on the rise By Karen Graham Emissions of a banned, ozone-depleting chemical are on the rise, a group of scientists reported Wednesday, suggesting someone may be secretly manufacturing the pollutant in violation of an international accord.

NOAA's next-generation weather satellite system launched today By Karen Graham The first in a series of four highly sophisticated, next-generation polar-orbiting satellites was launched in the early morning hours of Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Hurricane Maria tested the mettle of NOAA's GOES-16 satellite By Karen Graham The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has proven to be active and deadly. Powerful hurricanes, like Harvey, Irma and Maria are also providing a testing ground for new tools that scientists hope will save lives by improving forecasting.

NOAA — Sun spews out steady stream of solar flares for week By Karen Graham For over a week now, our sun has been spewing out a continuous stream of solar flares, causing NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center to issue a geomagnetic storm warning on Tuesday and Wednesday.

NOAA halts large whale rescues after death of Canadian rescuer By Karen Graham Joe Howlett, a Campobello Island, New Brunswick man, lost his life Monday night while performing a whale rescue in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In response to Mr. Howlett's death, NOAA is suspending all large whale rescues nationally until further notice.

Tropical Storm Cindy could pose a threat to Louisiana coastline By Karen Graham The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning today after the weather system being watched in the Gulf of Mexico became better organized and its winds increased to 45 mph.

Carbon dioxide peaked at an all-time monthly high in May By Karen Graham With the month of May behind us, we can now say it's official — Global carbon dioxide concentration has set an historic all-time record high for the year, adding to the climate records continually being broken as the Earth warms.

Hurricane season starts without heads of FEMA or NOAA By Karen Graham The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season officially started June 1. With the forecast for "above-normal" storm activity predicted, the two federal agencies most responsible for predicting weather and managing disasters face budget cuts and temporary bosses.

Warm weather brings warnings to shellfish lovers nationwide By Karen Graham As warm weather approaches, health officials from the Pacific Northwest to the coast of Florida and on up the East Coast are warning shellfish lovers of the dangers of eating raw or undercooked oysters or other shellfish.

Unusually large number of whale deaths seen along Atlantic coast By Karen Graham The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Fisheries (NOAA) has declared an "Unusual Mortality Event," based on the higher-than-normal number of deaths and strandings of humpback whales seen along the Atlantic coast recently.

Alaskan whale deaths in 2015 could have been due to toxic algae By Karen Graham Anchorage - Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are saying a toxic algae bloom could have caused the deaths of 44 whales in 2015 in the Gulf Coast of Alaska, but they are not ruling out other possibilities.

Chance of an El Niño weather pattern returning in 2017 is 50/50 By Karen Graham The National Weather Service released its monthly ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) forecast on Thursday, showing that there's increasing odds of El Niño returning in late summer or early fall this year.

Trump budget cuts to NOAA Satellite Division will be drastic By Karen Graham President Trump's proposed budget is still causing a storm of criticism. Funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is expected to be cut 17 percent or even more.

Over 80 false killer whales dead in Southwest Florida By Karen Graham The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is investigating the stranding of over 80 false killer whales near Hog Key in Southwest Florida over the weekend.

Report: U.S. had record summer of heat, global warming blamed By Marcus Hondro Newly released data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that the U.S. experienced its fifth warmest summer on record in 2016. The summer also saw record temperatures in some states and global warming may be the reason.

NOAA: U.S. sweats through hottest summer nights ever in 121 years By Karen Graham For those of you who lost sleep this summer because it was just too darned hot, here's the reason why. We have just experienced the hottest summer ever in the contiguous United States.

Anthropogenic climate change linked to Louisiana floods in August By Karen Graham Baton Rouge - The three-day extreme precipitation event that inundated southern Louisiana with 25 to 50 inches of rainfall in August was made more likely because of human-caused climate change, according to a fast-tracked study.

NOAA State of the Climate — July was 15th hottest month in a row By Karen Graham The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its monthly State of the Climate report Wednesday with the news that July 2016 marked the 15th straight record-hot month in a row, one record that is not worth celebrating.

CO2 levels are exploding as world tries to curb emissions By Karen Graham U.S. government meteorologists have reported that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increased at a record pace in 2015, raising concerns over one of the world's top greenhouse gases and its effects on global warming.

Federal meteorologists: U.S. had the 'hottest winter' on record By Karen Graham Thanks to a combination of El Nino and man-made global warming, the winter that just ended was the hottest winter in the United States, breaking a previous record set in 1999-2000.

Green Thumbs Up: Key beer ingredient threatened by climate change By Karen Graham Beer-lovers will tell you the key ingredient in beer is hops. But climate change is becoming a threat to the production of this important ingredient, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

'Traceability regulations' on seafood being proposed by NOAA By Karen Graham The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) unveiled a new set of regulations Thursday aiming to crack down on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud from "catch to first landfall."

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