Barry Lee Myers, whose nomination by President Trump to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration remained unconfirmed by the Senate for more than two years, asked the White House this week to withdraw it, saying that surgery and chemotherapy made it “impractical” for him to serve. Mr. Myers, the former chief executive of AccuWeather, […]
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NEAH BAY, Wash. — The hunters paddled frantically, closing in on their target. When they drew near, one of them stood in the cedar canoe and thrust a harpoon into the spine of the 30-foot gray whale. With the help of fishing boats, the men towed their catch into a small cove in Neah Bay […]
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Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. WASHINGTON — When officials at a government weather forecasting office assured Alabama residents that a September hurricane would not hit their state, they did not intend to contradict President Trump’s insistence that it would, according to newly disclosed documents. Instead, […]
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It was a hot summer in the American South, and droughts have affected tens of millions of people there after one of the driest and hottest Septembers on record. Because this dry spell began quickly — instead of creeping in gradually, as droughts usually do — it’s being referred to as a “flash drought.” In […]
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NORTH FORK, Idaho — The Middle Fork of the Salmon River, one of the wildest rivers in the contiguous United States, is prime fish habitat. Cold, clear waters from melting snow tumble out of the Salmon River Mountains and into the boulder-strewn river, which is federally protected. The last of the spawning spring-summer Chinook salmon […]
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SILVER SPRING, Md. — On Friday morning in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., government scientists in khakis and sensible shoes bustled to work — beneath a towering bronze sculpture of a hand releasing seabirds — heading for a small scientific agency caught up in a political mess triggered by President Trump’s tweet about Hurricane Dorian. […]
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WASHINGTON — The White House was directly involved in pressing a federal scientific agency to repudiate the weather forecasters who contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian would probably strike Alabama, according to several people familiar with the events. Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, to […]
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Wilbur Ross outside Trump Tower in New York, November 2016Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty) In the latest fallout from Sharpiegate, the push to convince the American people that its wannabe emperor Donald Trump wears clothes, er, was correct, when he put Alabama in the path of Hurricane Dorian, went as far as threats of pink slips […]
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Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. WASHINGTON — The Secretary of Commerce threatened to fire top employees at NOAA on Friday after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama, according to three people familiar with the discussion. That threat […]
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Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. WASHINGTON — The Secretary of Commerce threatened to fire top employees at NOAA on Friday after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama, according to three people familiar with the discussion. That threat […]
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I’m still stuck on Sharpie-gate. Sorry. But, so is Donald Trump. On Sunday, Sept. 1, as Hurricane Dorian approached, Trump tweeted: “In addition to Florida — South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.” He repeated the erroneous assertion during a FEMA briefing that day, saying: “And, […]
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WASHINGTON — The hurricane was accelerating away from the Mid-Atlantic coast. In the Bahamas, victims were picking through the devastation. In the Southeast, they were cleaning up debris. And in Washington, President Trump waged war over his forecasting skills. On Friday, for the sixth straight day, Mr. Trump continued his relentless campaign to prove that […]
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The links between hurricanes and climate change are complex, but some aspects are getting clearer. Tropical storms draw their energy from ocean heat — and more than 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions is being stored in the ocean. Storms that survive the cradle of formation can intensify quickly and become […]
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United States government scientists on Thursday confirmed that July was the hottest month on record, edging out the previous record-holder, July 2016. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the global average temperature last month was 62.1 degrees Fahrenheit (16.7 degrees Celsius). That is 0.05 degree Fahrenheit higher than July 2016, and 1.7 degrees […]
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Federal weather researchers expect hurricane activity to be greater than normal for the rest of this year’s season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. The new analysis suggests that an above-average season is substantially more likely than the agency first predicted in May. NOAA now expects up to 17 named storms before the […]
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ABOARD A P-3 ORION OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO — From 20,000 feet, the storm was a whirl of gray padded by dark puffs, its untidy tendrils protruding over the water in every direction. The hurricane hunters had arrived at the heart of Tropical Storm Barry, and the center looked unfinished, a semicircle that convulsed […]
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MONTEREY BAY, Calif — Tourists come here from around the world to watch whales. It’s common to see humpbacks leaping out of the water and fin whales slapping the waves with their flukes. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a gray whale poking its head out of the water to scope out the surroundings. And if […]
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When a pungent 40-foot whale carcass washed up a few beaches away, Stefanie Worwag and Mario Rivera did what any good neighbors would do. They invited the blubbery bottom feeder into the neighborhood and put him up in their backyard. Then Dr. Worwag cut him open. Dr. Worwag, a veterinarian, said she and her husband […]
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Aiming to reduce errors like the one it made in 2012, when it wrongly forecast the track of Hurricane Sandy into the New York area, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday introduced a major upgrade to the software at the heart of its weather prediction capability. Using huge amounts of computing power, the […]
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Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. This year’s Atlantic hurricane season should be “near normal,” government forecasters announced on Thursday, with the likelihood of nine to 15 named storms, and two to four major Category 3 hurricanes with winds of 111 miles per hour or greater. […]
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