News & Features

One reason the Fort McMurray area was at high risk for an early-season forest fire was that April snow cover was well below average in much of western North America.

A massive wildfire in northern Alberta has grown out of control, causing the evacuation of Fort McMurray, a city of 80,000 people. What climate conditions fostered this unusual early-season fire?

Unusually warm water along Australia's Great Barrier Reef has led to record-breaking coral bleaching.

Every summer, Greenland's ice sheet melts when temperatures warm up. This year, however, saw the start of the ice melt season begin in April, much earlier than normal.

In this week's Beyond the Data blog, Deke Arndt explains the climate behind this spring's prairie fires.

Drought has gripped many islands across the Pacific thanks to El Niño and a lack of rainfall. 

Currently, the risk of regional-scale tornado outbreaks is predictable only about 7 days in advance. But NOAA scientists report that sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific may provide a month or more of advance warning of an elevated risk for tornado outbreaks.

An ocean heat wave slammed the lobster industry in the Gulf of Maine in 2012. Scientists and lobstermen studying the incident found a surprise: just not fishing during the heatwave would have been better for the lobstermen's bottom line.

A fire hose of moisture pointed directly at the Gulf Coast led to up to two feet of rain in Louisiana in less than a week.

Huge waves can mean only one thing in Hawai'i: surf's up. Should surfers thank El Niño?