NOAA News

Benicia - The US National Weather Service in Sacramento is seeking volunteers to join its teams of storm-watchers in Northern California.

US government scientists reported Tuesday that last month was the warmest November on record across the earth since record-keeping began in 1880.

The earth's sea and ice cover is not a static thing, but changes continually. This year is a good example, with Antarctic sea ice extent setting a growth record, while the Arctic sea ice did better than 2012's record low sea ice extent.

For generations, the Pacific walrus population has inhabited and used the sea ice offshore in the northern Chukchi Sea as platforms during their winter stay, diving on the shallow continental shelf to reach snails, crabs and worms.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with responsibility for fisheries along US coasts, said a measles-like virus is the most likely cause for the high rate of bottlenose dolphin deaths this summer along the US Atlantic seaboard.

Boulder - This week, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) published its climatic report card for 2012, “State of the Climate in 2012.” The report makes gloomy reading, highlighting record Arctic ice melt and unprecedented CO2 emissions from fossil fuels.

Citing President Obama’s call from last week’s climate speech for federal agencies to help communities prepare for extreme weather events, NOAA said yesterday that it will begin releasing monthly drought outlooks, or MDOs.

As the sun reaches peak intensity of its 11-year sun cycle, solar flares become increasingly common. This latest solar flare was ejected from the sun at approximately 6:49 p.m. on June 7, 2013 and was powerful enough to disrupt long-range communications.

The Atlantic puffin population is at risk in the United States, and there are signs the seabirds are in distress in other parts of the world, says CBC.

NOAA scientists are on high alert as the Sun enters a period of solar maximum over the next 14 months during which we will see a burst of activity that could have catastrophic effects on global power grids and communications systems.