NOAA News

Climate Experts Say Much of Northwest May Stay Drought-Stricken

Climate experts from Oregon, Washington and Idaho say most of the Northwest remains locked in drought and that the region is unlikely to get enough rainfall to end drought conditions. Britt Parker, regional drought information coordinator for the National Oceanic …

NOAA: Hot is the New U.S. Climate Normal

It’s hot, get used to it. That might be the clearest takeaway from a message out from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday, which gave us a glimpse of the “new normal” in a changing climate. NOAA releases …

‘Dead Zone’ in Gulf Much Smaller This Year Following Tropical Storms

Tropical weather stirred up the Gulf of Mexico, reducing this year’s dead zone off Louisiana’s coast to the third-smallest ever measured, the scientist who has measured it since 1985 said Tuesday. Marine ecologist Nancy Rabalais said the area where there’s …

‘Rivers in the Sky’ Causing Billions in Flood Damage in U.S.

Climate change is spurring a new, deep dive into a complex, little-studied weather system blamed for creating billions of dollars in flood damage across the western U.S. Atmospheric rivers are narrow ribbons of concentrated moisture that originate in the Pacific …

2019 Natural Hazard Report Highlights Long Tail of Financial Recovery

This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. Preparing for a catastrophe is a science. This science involves models built from data and analytics that can capture the worst-case scenario for businesses and homeowners. Knowing exactly what the …

U.S. Offers $30 Million in Grants to Help Coastal Areas Mitigate Flooding, Rising Seas

The U.S. government’s oceans and waterways agency will provide $30 million to improve coastal resilience, officials said, aiming to reduce the impacts of worsening storms, flooding and rising seas in nearly half of U.S. states. Grants through the program are …

The United States Saw 11 Natural Disaster Events That Exceeded $1 Billion in Damage During 2018

This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. When it comes to natural disasters, 2018 was an eventful year worldwide. Typhoons devastated the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan and Oman. Earthquakes caused mass casualties in Indonesia, business interruption in …

NOAA Expects Sea Level Rise to Produce Record Coastal Flooding This Year

Break out the galoshes. The projected increase in high tide flooding in 2018 may be as much as 60 percent higher across U.S. coastlines compared to typical flooding about 20 years ago, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and …

Hawaii, Central Pacific Could See Handful of Hurricanes This Season

The Central Pacific could see anywhere from three to six hurricanes over the next six months, forecasters predicted Wednesday. That would be an increase over the two named storms last year. Storm activity is likely to be normal or a …

Pacific Hurricane Season Depends on El Niño: NOAA

Forecasters say the central Pacific region around Hawaii can expect a normal or slightly above-average hurricane season, depending largely on the presence of El Niño conditions. Chris Brenchley, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center, …