Articles by Kendra Pierre-Louis

These Roads Aren’t Built for Wilder Weather Driven by Climate Change

California’s Highway One, stretching more than 650 miles along the Pacific Coast, is one of America’s most popular roadways because of its breathtaking views. Yet, since 2023, large chunks of it have been closed. That year, a series of atmospheric …

It’s ‘Virtually Certain’ the World Has Already Breached 1.5C Warming Limit

The world may have already missed its chance to limit global warming to 1.5C, according to two new studies in Nature Climate Change. The Paris Agreement was inked in 2015, with 196 countries agreeing to rein in greenhouse gas emissions …

Damaging Megadroughts Are Spreading Around the World

Severe drought conditions have helped fuel the Los Angeles wildfires. But a new study, released Thursday in the journal Nature comes with a warning: Climate change is making catastrophic, multiyear “megadroughts” much worse around the world. Droughts are relative — …

Asheville’s Dirty Water Warns of Climate Risk to Aging US Infrastructure

Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated swaths of the southeastern US by bringing too much water. Now, communities are struggling with the opposite problem: too little of it. The North Fork Water Treatment Plant supplies most of the drinking water to …

American Dams Weren’t Built for Today’s Climate-Charged Rain and Floods

As flooding hammered Appalachia in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, residents became intimately familiar with a new norm in the US’s post-storm script: dams at imminent risk of failing. Officials last week said multiple dams were on the brink, including …

Is Heat Causing Branches to Fall Off Trees? Scientists Aren’t Sure

In 2003, as Paris sweltered through a heat wave that would go on to kill an estimated 15,000 people across France, one oasis of cooler air remained off limits: the city’s roughly 400 public parks. They were temporarily closed due …

On a Warming Planet, Outdoor Concerts Need a New Safety Playbook

Just before Ana Clara Benevides lost consciousness, she likely found it hard to breathe. Packed with 60,000 people in Rio de Janeiro’s Nilton Santos Stadium for a Nov. 17 Taylor Swift concert — amidst a heat wave with a “real …

Extreme Weather Is Driving More US Power Outages, Studies Show

For decades, residents of eastern Queens in New York City have complained that they’re more likely to lose power when extreme weather hits, even as lights in other parts of the city stay on. A new study that looks at …

Rising Sea Levels Increase Threat of Arsenic in Drinking Water: Study

Rising seas due to climate change could exacerbate the threat of arsenic in drinking water, according to a study published in PLOS One in January. Researchers focused on arsenic in well water in Bangladesh, where up to 97% of the …

Unusually Warm Atlantic Ocean Is Supercharging Hurricane Idalia

Hurricane Idalia, now a Category 1 storm, is expected to make landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday. The hurricane’s likely transformation between now and then will be due in part to the unusually warm waters on its path. As …