Latest news with #NationalClimateAssessment
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA drops plans to publish scrubbed climate change report on its site
In a reversal, NASA no longer plans to publish a major climate report whose previous website was scrubbed by the Trump administration. The report in question, known as the National Climate Assessment, was previously housed on After the Trump administration eliminated the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) website, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said that 'all preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting.' But those plans have changed. Stevens appeared to indicate in a statement to The Hill on Monday that NASA no longer plans to host the information on its website. 'The USGCRP met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host data,' Stevens said. The announcement comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to downplay or deny climate change's existence and its impact on extreme weather. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, has said it wants to reconsider its finding that climate change poses a threat to the public. It has also dismissed all of the scientists who were set to work on the next version of the climate assessment, the completion of which is mandated by Congress. The 2023 version of the climate assessment can still be downloaded from online government archives as of Tuesday, or it can be viewed using the Wayback Machine internet archive. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
15-07-2025
- Science
- The Hill
NASA drops plans to publish scrubbed climate change report on its site
In a reversal, NASA no longer plans to publish a major climate report whose own previous website was scrubbed by the Trump administration. The report in question, known as the National Climate Assessment, was previously housed on After the Trump administration eliminated the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) website, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said that 'all preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting.' But those plans have changed. Stevens appeared to indicate in a statement to The Hill on Monday that NASA no longer plans to host the information on its website. 'The USGCRP met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host data,' Stevens said. The announcement comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to downplay or deny climate change's existence and its impact on extreme weather. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, has said it wants to reconsider its finding that climate change poses a threat to the public. It has also dismissed all of the scientists who were set to work on the next version of the climate assessment, the completion of which is mandated by Congress. The 2023 version of the climate assessment can still be downloaded from online government archives as of Tuesday, or it can be viewed using the Wayback Machine internet archive.
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Business Standard
06-07-2025
- Climate
- Business Standard
As the world warms up, extreme rain is becoming even more extreme
Raymond Zhong Colossal bursts of rain like the ones that caused the deadly flooding in Texas are becoming more frequent and intense around the globe as the burning of fossil fuels heats the planet, scientists say. Warm air holds more moisture than cool air, and as temperatures rise, storms can produce bigger downpours. When met on the ground with outdated infrastructure or inadequate warning systems, the results can be catastrophic. These were the ingredients for tragedy in Texas, a state that is well acquainted with weather extremes of all kinds: high heat and deep cold, deluges and droughts, tornadoes and hurricanes, hail and snow. Indeed, the hill country, the part of the state where the Guadalupe river swelled on Friday, is sometimes called 'flash flood alley' for how at risk it is to seemingly out-of-nowhere surges of water. Humid air blows into the area from two main sources, the Gulf of Mexico and the tropical Pacific Ocean. When this air collides with cool air drifting down across the Great Plains, severe storms can erupt. The hilly terrain and steep canyons quickly funnel the rain into river valleys, transforming lazy streams into roaring cascades. In parts of Texas that were flooded on Friday, the quantities of rain that poured down in a six-hour stretch were so great that they had less than a tenth of 1 percent chance of falling there in any given year, according to data analysed by Russ Schumacher, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. The Guadalupe river rose from three feet to 34 feet in about 90 minutes, according to data from a river gauge near the town of Comfort, Texas. The volume of water exploded from 95 cubic feet per second to 166,000 cubic feet per second. And the warming climate is creating the conditions in Texas for more of these sharp, deadly deluges. In the eastern part of the state, the number of days per year with at least two inches of rain or snow has increased by 20 percent since 1900, according to the most recent National Climate Assessment, the federal government's flagship report on how global warming is affecting the United States. Across Texas, the intensity of extreme rain could increase another 10 percent by 2036, according to a report last year by John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist. To understand patterns of heavy rain at a more local level, communities and officials rely on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency has for decades published nationwide estimates of the probabilities of various precipitation events — that is, a certain number of inches falling in a particular location over a given amount of time, from five minutes to 24 hours to 60 days. Engineers use NOAA's estimates to design storm drains and culverts. City planners use them to guide development and regulations in flood-prone areas. NOAA's next updates to the estimates are scheduled to be released starting next year. For the first time, they are expected to include projections of how extreme precipitation will evolve as the climate changes, in order to help officials plan further ahead. But in recent months, the Trump administration has cut staff at the agency and at the National Weather Service, which sits within NOAA. The administration has also dismissed the hundreds of experts who had been compiling the next edition of the National Climate Assessment, which was scheduled to come out in 2028. And it is proposing deep cuts to NOAA's 2026 budget, including eliminating the office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which conducts and coordinates climate research.
Straits Times
06-07-2025
- Science
- Straits Times
As the world warms, extreme rain is becoming even more extreme
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Colossal bursts of rain like the ones that caused the deadly flooding in Texas are becoming more frequent and intense around the globe as the burning of fossil fuels heats the planet, scientists say. Warm air holds more moisture than cool air, and as temperatures rise, storms can produce bigger downpours. When met on the ground with outdated infrastructure or inadequate warning systems, the results can be catastrophic. These were the ingredients for tragedy in Texas, a state that is well acquainted with weather extremes of all kinds: high heat and deep cold, deluges and droughts, tornadoes and hurricanes, hail and snow. Indeed, the Hill Country, the part of the state where the Guadalupe River swelled on July 4, is sometimes called 'flash flood alley' for how at risk it is to seemingly out-of-nowhere surges of water. Humid air blows into the area from two main sources, the Gulf of Mexico and the tropical Pacific Ocean. When this air collides with cool air drifting down across the Great Plains, severe storms can erupt. The hilly terrain and steep canyons quickly funnel the rain into river valleys, transforming lazy streams into roaring cascades. In parts of Texas that were flooded on July 4, the quantities of rain that poured down in a six-hour stretch were so great that they had less than a tenth of 1 per cent chance of falling there in any given year, according to data analysed by Dr Russ Schumacher, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. The Guadalupe River rose from 3 feet to 34 feet in about 90 minutes, according to data from a river gauge near the town of Comfort, Texas. The volume of water exploded from 95 cubic feet per second to 166,000 cubic feet per second. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore First BTO project in Sembawang North to be offered in July launch Singapore TTSH to demolish century-old pavilion wards, keeping one as heritage marker World 'Formed to give you back your freedom': Elon Musk says he has created a new US political party Singapore Tank collides into traffic light during National Day Parade national education show Singapore His world crashed when he got F9 in O-level Tamil but PropNex co-founder Ismail Gafoor beat the odds Asia HIV surge in the Philippines amid poor sex education, policy gaps Tech Graduates are not screwed if they study engineering: James Dyson in response to Economist article Business When a foreign wife failed to turn up for a $10m divorce And the warming climate is creating the conditions in Texas for more of these sharp, deadly deluges. In the eastern part of the state, the number of days per year with at least 2 inches of rain or snow has increased by 20 per cent since 1900, according to the most recent National Climate Assessment, the federal government's flagship report on how global warming is affecting the United States. Across Texas, the intensity of extreme rain could increase another 10 per cent by 2036, according to a report last year by Dr John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist. To understand patterns of heavy rain at a more local level, communities and officials rely on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency has for decades published nationwide estimates of the probabilities of various precipitation events – that is, a certain number of inches falling in a particular location over a given amount of time, from five minutes to 24 hours to 60 days. Engineers use NOAA's estimates to design storm drains and culverts. City planners use them to guide development and regulations in flood-prone areas. NOAA's next updates to the estimates are scheduled to be released from 2026. For the first time, they are expected to include projections of how extreme precipitation will evolve as the climate changes, in order to help officials plan further ahead. But in recent months, the Trump administration has cut staff at the agency and at the National Weather Service, which sits within NOAA. The administration has also dismissed the hundreds of experts who had been compiling the next edition of the National Climate Assessment, which was scheduled to come out in 2028. And it is proposing deep cuts to NOAA's 2026 budget, including eliminating the office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which conducts and coordinates climate research. NYTIMES
The Hindu
03-07-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Websites hosting major U.S. climate reports taken down
Websites that displayed legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their backyards from a warming world. Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites for the national assessments and the U.S. Global Change Research Program were down Monday and Tuesday with no links, notes or referrals elsewhere. The White House, which was responsible for the assessments, said the information will be housed within NASA to comply with the law, but gave no further details. Searches for the assessments on NASA websites did not turn them up. NASA did not respond to requests for information. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which coordinated the information in the assessments, did not respond to repeated inquiries. "It's critical for decision makers across the country to know what the science in the National Climate Assessment is. That is the most reliable and well-reviewed source of information about climate that exists for the United States," said University of Arizona climate scientist Kathy Jacobs, who coordinated the 2014 version of the report. 'It's a sad day for the United States if it is true that the National Climate Assessment is no longer available," Jacobs said. "This is evidence of serious tampering with the facts and with people's access to information, and it actually may increase the risk of people being harmed by climate-related impacts.' Harvard climate scientist John Holdren, who was President Obama's science advisor and whose office directed the assessments, said after the 2014 edition he visited governors, mayors and other local officials who told him how useful the 841-page report was. It helped them decide whether to raise roads, build seawalls and even move hospital generators from basements to roofs, he said. 'This is a government resource paid for by the taxpayer to provide the information that really is the primary source of information for any city, state or federal agency who's trying to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate,' said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, who has been a volunteer author for several editions of the report. Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in NOAA's library. NASA's open science data repository includes dead links to the assessment site. The most recent report, issued in 2023, included an interactive atlas that zoomed down to the county level. It found that climate change is affecting people's security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority and Native American communities often disproportionately at risk. The 1990 Global Change Research Act requires a national climate assessment every four years and directs the president to establish an interagency United States Global Change Research Program. In the spring, the Trump administration told the volunteer authors of the next climate assessment that their services weren't needed and ended the contract with the private firm that helps coordinate the website and report. Additionally, NOAA's main website was recently forwarded to a different NOAA website. Social media and blogs at NOAA and NASA about climate impacts for the general public were cut or eliminated. 'It's part of a horrifying big picture,' Holdren said. 'It's just an appalling whole demolition of science infrastructure.' The national assessments are more useful than international climate reports put out by the United Nations every seven or so years because they are more localised and more detailed, Hayhoe and Jacobs said. The national reports are not only peer reviewed by other scientists, but examined for accuracy by the National Academy of Sciences, federal agencies, the staff and the public. Hiding the reports would be censoring science, Jacobs said. And it's dangerous for the country, Hayhoe said, comparing it to steering a car on a curving road by only looking through the rearview mirror: "And now, more than ever, we need to be looking ahead to do everything it takes to make it around that curve safely. It's like our windshield's being painted over.'
