PMEL in the News
US cold snap was a freak of nature, quick analysis finds
Consider this cold comfort: A quick study of the brutal American cold snap found that the Arctic blast really wasn't global warming but a freak of nature. Frigid weather like the two-week cold spell that began around Christmas is 15 times rarer than it was a century ago, according to a team of international scientists who does real-time analyses to see if extreme weather events are natural or more likely to happen because of climate change. Jim Overland is quoted.
La Nina peaks; NW snowpack on the line
A weak to moderate La Nina in the tropical Pacific has probably peaked, though it may have enough punch left to swell Northwest snowpacks, climatologists reported Thursday. Nick Bond is quoted.
What's Behind a Surge in Stingray Attacks?
Stingrays love warm water. One thing they hate? The sudden presence of human feet. The combination recently left a record number of beachgoers at Huntington Beach, just south of Los Angeles, with stingray injuries—at least 73 people were treated last Friday. Nick Bond is quoted.
Weather 'bombs' and the link between severe winters and climate change
What’s with all the weapons analogies for the storm dumping snow on the East Coast today? The bomb references may seem to have popped up out of nowhere this week, but the word has actually been used to describe powerful, rapidly intensifying winter storms for decades.
EXTREME WEATHER: Storm 'bomb' is tinder for both sides in climate fight
Record-cold temperatures, possible hurricane-force winds, and a dramatic name — the "bomb cyclone" is being used by some climate skeptics to question scientists who've become more bold about linking extreme weather to warming temperatures.