Each year, when the list of coldest U.S. cities is compiled, International Falls, Minnesota regularly winds up at the top of the list, earning its title as “Icebox of the Nation”. The city once hit -55°F (on January 6, 1909), and takes pride in the distinction of being the coldest city in the U.S., having [...]
Signal: warming
Cherry Blossoms predicted to bloom early, yet again, this year
Washington is getting ready to celebrate 100 years with its famous cherry blossom trees, and peak bloom season is just around the corner. The National Park Service announced Thursday that the peak bloom dates for the trees’ pink and white flowers are expected to be March 24 to March 31. That’s when 70 percent of [...]
LA Times: “U.S. seems to have largely escaped winter”
The temperature in Minneapolis didn’t fall to zero degrees this winter until Jan. 12. On Jan. 5., the daytime high in Rapid City, S.D. (a record-setting 71 degrees), was higher than in balmy Miami (69 degrees). And just a couple of days before New Year’s, visitors to Park City, Utah, skied on man-made snow and [...]
Shrub takeover a sign of Arctic change
In the 2011 Arctic Report Card, scientists concluded that the Arctic environment has undergone a fundamental shift in conditions, and that the Arctic of recent years—warmer, greener, less icy—is likely to be the new normal for the Far North. One sign of the ongoing transformation of the Arctic is the spread of shrubs across the [...]
Major cities in U.S. warming up due to climate change
We evaluate changes in climatic indices for the 100 largest U.S. urban areas and paired surrounding non-urban areas. During the period 1950–2009, we find that there were statistically significant changes in as many as half of the urban areas in temperature-related indices, such as heating and cooling degree-days and number of warm and cool nights, [...]
Warm weather illnesses moving north in the United States
If physicians want evidence of climate change, they may well find it in their own offices. Patients are presenting with illnesses that once happened only in warmer areas. Chronic conditions are becoming aggravated by more frequent and extended heat waves. Allergy and asthma seasons are getting longer. Spates of injuries are resulting from more intense [...]
