News & Features

Hurricane Andrew made landfall near Homestead, Florida, on August 24, 1992. NOAA scientists recount the powerful hurricane and the progress in hurricane research over the last 30 years.

Climate models forecast declines in Mediterranean winter precipitation, thanks to a weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Simulations suggest the Mediterranean may dry even with substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions after 2040.

A new study investigates wildfire contributions to atmospheric nitrous acid in the western United States. The study finds that direct emissions from wildfire smoke are not the only—or even the most important—source of nitrous acid.

Atmospheric rivers generate most of the economic losses associated with flooding in the western United States. A new3 study find these damages could increase by over a billion dollars by the 2090s.

For the fifth year in a row, late spring snow cover was below average again in 2022.

Earth had its sixth-warmest July on record, with extreme dryness over Europe, the U.S. West, western Australia, and central South America, and extreme wetness over eastern Australia, east-central Africa, and parts of the Middle East.

August 4: A team of NOAA and University of Washington Cooperative Institute scientists flew over Alaskan waters to conduct renewed research on Arctic ocean heat flows. Scientists deployed 30 floats from NOAA aircraft that will provide key temperature data to better understand how the Arctic ocean is warming.

On August 7, 2022, NOAA employees and residents of Maryland’s Montgomery County participated in the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) “Urban Heat Island Mapping Campaign.”

Trend expected to continue into 2023 and beyond.

The tropical Pacific appears to be hopelessly devoted to La Niña for at least the early part of winter.