From heat-related illness, to the spread of pests and pathogens into new areas, to the accumulation of toxins in seafood, global warming is likely to have serious impacts on public health.
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that Earth is warming and a preponderance of scientific evidence that human activities are the main cause.
Considering some locations experience temperature swings of 30°F or more in a single day, warming of 1.8°F (1°C) might seem small, but Earth's annual temperatures are very stable when climate isn't changing.
Women from states in the U.S. Southeast have the highest rates of premature deliveries in the country. Extreme heat plays a role.
In 2019, the area of the Arctic Ocean where the summer sea ice cover was at least 15 percent tied with 2007 and 2016 as the second-smallest on record.
The Global Climate Dashboard provides one-stop access to information, maps, and graphs of key indicators of our global climate. Interactive graphs provide a system-wide view of the state of natural patterns like El Niño and the Arctic Oscillation and those linked to human-caused climate change, such as sea level rise and greenhouse gases.
Thanks to the global oceans, Earth's surface temperature doesn't react instantly to the full impact of a climate disturbance. That delayed reaction has pros and cons.
A collection of links to the latest NOAA updates on Hurricane Dorian.
Updated through 2023, this collection includes temperature and precipitation images for D.C., Alaska, and selected Hawaii stations.
The devastating floods in the Missouri and Mississippi basins aren't the end of the problems caused by the wet spring in 2019. Fertilizer overload from high river runoff is forecast to lead to a very large dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico later this summer.