A drought has been declared on the entire North Island of New Zealand – in what the government describes as the worst dry spell in 30 years. Farmers are especially hard hit, with losses in agriculture expected to shave about 1% off economic growth. The capital Wellington is said to have just 18 days of water left, and parts of… Read more →
At an army base outside Tel Aviv, soldiers sit in front of screens glued to scrolling colored computer code, keyboards at the ready to deflect attacks. They’re Israel’s cyber defense team in training, among the uniformed men and women learning how to stalk hackers and pounce on virtual enemies as the state shields everything from ministry websites to the systems running the… Read more →
The national drought footprint shrank slightly this week, as heavy rains fell across the South, Southeast, Midwest and parts of the Mid-Atlantic states, and major snowfall blanketed parts of the Rocky Mountains and Northern Cascades, bringing relief to those regions. However, the hardest-hit drought region — the Great Plains — continued to experience drier-than-average conditions, with the drought continuing to… Read more →
2012 was a historic year for extreme weather that included drought, wildfires, hurricanes and storms; however, tornado activity was below average 2012 marked the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States with the year consisting of a record warm spring, second warmest summer, fourth warmest winter and a warmer-than-average autumn. The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3°F, 3.2°F… Read more →
Flooding and “extreme” rain could become far more commonplace in the UK Photo: Rui Vieira/PA The total rainfall of 1330.7mm (52.38in) was just 6.6mm (0.25in) less than the wettest ever year, 2000, despite Britain experiencing a drought for the first three months of 2012. But the picture varied widely across the country, with 2012 being the wettest ever year in England,… Read more →
The U.S. Drought Monitor is unique, blending numeric measures of drought and experts’ best judgment into a single map every week. It started in 1999 as a federal, state, and academic partnership, growing out of a Western Governors’ Association initiative to provide timely and understandable scientific information on water supply and drought for policymakers. The Monitor is produced by a rotating group… Read more →
Year in wild weather: Vicious heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes and superstorms.
Scientists have unlocked key parts of the complex genetic code of wheat, one of the world’s most important crops, which could help improve food security. The team hopes the data will accelerate the development of varieties more resilient to stresses, such as disease and drought, that cause crops to fail. The 2012 wheat harvest was hit by extreme weather events… Read more →
President Barack Obama’s administration rejected a request from the governors of eight U.S. states to waive requirements for blending corn-based ethanol into gasoline, said a person familiar with the decision. Market conditions don’t justify such a move, said the person, who declined to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak for the Environmental Protection Agency. Gasoline refiners will be required… Read more →
The UK has just experienced its “weirdest” weather on record, scientists have confirmed. The driest spring for over a century gave way to the wettest recorded April to June in a dramatic turnaround never documented before. The scientists said there was no evidence of a link to manmade climate change. But they say we must now plan for periodic swings… Read more →
