Are you in DC on Saturday? Stop by the Library of Congress National Book Festival and say hi! www.loc.gov/events/2025-...
Climate journalist focused on extreme weather, climate, the energy transition @cnn. Priors: Axios, WaPo | Alum: The Fletcher School, Columbia Climate & Society | Tips: andrew.freedman@axios.com | afreedman@protonmail.com | Signal: @afreedmanclimate.03
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Are you in DC on Saturday? Stop by the Library of Congress National Book Festival and say hi! www.loc.gov/events/2025-...
This is AI2ES, my AI institute. No way around it other than to say this is really awful. We are doing so many amazing things! We want to keep doing amazing things but without this level of funding, we will not be able to do so.
The Department of Energy hired five academics to raise doubts about climate change. 85+ climate experts (organized by @andrewdessler.com) reviewed their report. Our conclusion, detailed in 450 pages of analysis: it is biased, full of errors, and not fit to inform policy making.
For example, the comments fault the report for failing to note the acceleration in sea level rise, and for faulting climate models when in fact they have matched up well with reality www.cnn.com/2025/09/02/c... 4/4
The comments, which amount to a peer review of a scientific assessment that itself did NOT undergo peer review, notes “pervasive problems with misrepresentation and selective citation of the scientific literature” 3/
The comments criticize the report for containing errors, having a high rate of self-citations, ignoring relevant studies with contrary findings, and “cherry-picking of data, and faulty or absent statistics” 2/
More than 85 climate scientists filed >400 pages of public comments today pushing back against the findings of the DOE’s Climate Working Group Report. A 🧵
This is a really nice piece by Scientific American's Andrea Thompson on the progress we've made improving hurricane forecasting. It's hard to understand why something that's had bipartisan support for decades, and is demonstratively cost-effective, is about to be thrown under the bus.
I spoke with some of the top experts on how climate change is affecting Atlantic hurricanes, specifically when it comes to rapid intensification. It was... unsettling. Here's the story that resulted: www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/c...
New nonprofit climate group forms, aims to resurrect climate.gov, National Climate Assessment and other lost data www.cnn.com/2025/08/28/c...
Important story from @voosen.me on FY'25 cuts to NOAA's climate, weather research programs that bring spending below what Congress authorized. Hints at the bigger research cuts to come in FY'26. www.science.org/content/arti...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Overall, the administration is taking a very narrow view of what is weather vs. climate, and eliminating non-weather "exclusive" instruments. cnn.com/2025/08/20/w... (3/3)
Instead of 6 satellites from 2032-2055, we’ll get 4 as the successors to GOES-R series. Scientists fear that could reduce the ability of one satellite to back up another in the event of a malfunction. (2/3)
SCOOP: Trump administration slashes scope of next-generation US weather satellites, eliminating air quality and ocean observing sensors. (1/3)
Now that WILDER WEATHER is in the wild, I have a tiny favor to ask. If you've read it, could you give it a review? Quick tips in this article!
NEW: This summer has featured extreme heat in some of the typically coldest parts of the world. In other words, in a warming world there's no such thing as a "Coolcation" anymore. (For CNN subscribers): www.cnn.com/2025/08/18/c...
🔴⚠️🔥🇪🇸🇵🇹🌡Alarming conditions for several #wildfires affecting Spain and Portugal since days.The latest meteosat-12 📸 in early August 15 shows a giant smoke plume flying over France as well as violent fires in the iberian peninsula. #climateemergency
The unexpected links between greenhouse gases, global warming and the vulnerability of satellites to powerful solar storms. www.cnn.com/2025/08/14/c...
Climate change may alter the susceptibility of critical satellite networks to solar storms in coming decades, a new study finds. www.cnn.com/2025/08/14/c...
"The destruction of the satellites — which will be abandoned and allowed to eventually burn up in a fiery descent into Earth’s atmosphere — marks the latest step by the Trump administration to scale back federal climate science." www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/c...
Remarkably, NASA is looking for partners (wealthy individuals, philanthropic orgs, companies etc.) to keep crucial climate satellite missions like the Orbiting Carbon Observatory going. Whether they make such a deal before $$ runs out remains to be seen... www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/c...
Here's a deep dive into the importance of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions, which have enough fuel left to stay in orbit until ~2040. Yet scientists are being told to plan for their imminent demise. www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/c... (3/3)
These include the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, Terra, Aqua and Aura. Also affected? Future missions. The administration says this is aimed at cutting costs, but scientists involved see a clear anti-climate science motive. (2/3)
The Trump administration is planning to terminate the missions of some of the U.S.' premier climate and Earth-observing satellites, possibly starting as soon as Oct. depending on congressional budget negotiations (1/3)
The Nat'l Academy of Sciences is also putting together a formal "fast-track" study updating climate science findings since the EPA's endangerment finding came out in 2009. www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/c...
One climate scientist said of the DOE climate report, "It’s like somebody took all the bullshit from 10 years ago, didn’t refrigerate it and has now regurgitated it.” (I don't think that's a positive review.) (2/3)
NEW: Mainstream climate scientists are organizing to push back against the climate contrarian report the Trump admin published last week out of DOE. (1/3)
This follows a report released under the auspices of DOE & written by 5 climate change contrarians that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change. It played a role in the EPA's pulling of the endangerment finding. Via @ellanilsen.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/c...
Energy Secretary Chris Wright says Trump admin is altering previous National Climate Assessments. These were produced by hundreds of climate scientists and mandated by Congress. (1/2)
Following the news (broken yesterday by @afreedma.bsky.social) that NWS could hire 450 employees -- experts tell me the hiring process will be complicated, prob involve a lot of internal staff shuffling and likely take at least a year. eenews.net/articles/nws...
New hires will go to front-line offices to fill "critical" vacancies created by firings, retirement incentives. Concerns have been raised about NWS' readiness for hurricane season, new hires aimed to bolster forecasting. www.cnn.com/2025/08/05/w... (2/2)
NEW: The NWS has received permission to hire up to 450 meteorologists/hydrologists/radar technicians after DOGE-related cuts. Agency also given a public safety exemption from federal hiring freeze after losing more than 550 people in those cuts. (1/2)
Dogs, surfing.
Alt headline: No really, we should be freaking out even more about Trump firing the BLS commissioner www.cnn.com/2025/08/04/b...
@climatecentral.org has made a bunch of superstar ex NOAA hires, most recently picking up Adam Smith and Ellen Mecray. Adam ran the billion dollar disaster database, and Ellen led the charge on sector impacts, so I'm so happy to see this dynamic duo back in the saddle (via @tdiliberto.bsky.social)
SCOOP: Two senior NOAA officials were just placed on leave. Both led ‘Sharpiegate’ inquiry www.cnn.com/2025/07/25/w...
Kudos to the team involved with it, there are some good resources here for readers. It shows how flash flood risks span the country, from Santa Barbara, Calif. to the Catskills. Many people likely underestimate their flash flood risk exposure www.cnn.com/2025/07/24/c...
At @cnn.com, we examined flash flood hot spots around the country to show readers where the risk of the next deadly "flood wave" is highest. Some of these findings surprised me. This team project is for subscribers, done with the help of First Street & our data viz team (1/2)
Landmark ICJ advisory opinion still being delivered We've just heard: "Fossil fuel production, consumption, the granting of FF exploration licences or the provision of fossil fuel subsidies may constitute an internationally wrongful act attributable to that state." webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1c...
The NWS is doing a test run of using Bluesky. www.weather.gov/media/notifi...
Sen. Cantwell's letter is designed to get Republican support, avoiding climate change mentions and focusing instead on how to bring the US on par with its international peers when it comes to forecast accuracy. (2/2)
Key Democratic senator writes to President Trump calling for a big investment in weather forecasting and early warning systems. Comes in the wake of the Texas disaster, & admin cuts to NOAA. www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/w... (1/2)
Scientists say they know why these flash floods are occurring -- with stuck weather patterns and climate change-driven trends playing major roles. www.cnn.com/2025/07/20/c...
This is the summer of flash flooding in the US, from New Mexico to Texas to NYC. (After yday, the DC metro area could be added to this list, too.) (1/2)
NOAA is now clear to proceed with both volumes of what is known as Atlas 15, which will show people their flash flood risk now and in a warming world, through FY 2026. www.cnn.com/2025/07/18/w...
NEW: New: Trump administration to proceed with groundbreaking flash flood risk database following media covg. this week. Contracts had been under review for about a month, raising suspicions it was being held up due to climate change content. (1/2)
The first part of the flood risk update, known as Atlas 15, is still proceeding. It's the second part, the one that deals more with climate change, that has hit some turbulence. www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/w...
In this summer of floods, the Trump administration has paused potentially life-saving research on how flood risks are shifting due to climate change in the US. This story confirms a @sarahkaplan48.bsky.social scoop from today & adds some more reporting. (1/2)
Pretty remarkable that we’ve seen a record for flood warnings this year!
DOGE-related cuts left a key Texas NWS office without a warning coordination meteorologist on the night of the deadly floods. Did this make a difference in how the agency issued potentially lifesaving warnings? www.cnn.com/2025/07/13/w...
A summit next week in Pittsburgh on energy and AI featuring President Trump and tech giants will likely spotlight fossil fuels as the best way to quench data centers' electricity thirst. www.axios.com/pro/energy-p...
Confirming @maxinejoselow.bsky.social 's scoop: DOE has hired 3 prominent climate contrarian's, and mainstream climate scientists are worried about what's next... W/ @ellanilsen.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/c...
Confirming @maxinejoselow.bsky.social's scoop: DOE has hired 3 prominent climate contrarian's, and mainstream climate scientists are worried about what's next... www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/c...
"Despite Trump officially activating FEMA on Sunday, FEMA has just 86 total staff deployed at this point [to Texas], according to figures shared with staff Monday evening...In the past it would normally be in the several hundreds at this point in the disaster recovery process." My latest:
"A review of... communications from a real-time messaging system operated by the NWS showed that no emergency manager from Kerr County was sending messages or interacting with NWS staff on the platform, even as emergency officials from other counties were doing so." www.cnn.com/2025/07/07/u...
So many questions regarding storm preparations & response efforts in Texas. Story includes some insights gleaned from an NWS messaging system used for media, emergency management interactions. www.cnn.com/2025/07/07/u...
Most questions revolve around the so-called "last mile" problem of weather forecasting. That is, did the warnings get to those who needed it most? Did people know how to respond? Did the cell phone alerts reach everyone? Too much warning fatigue? (2/2)
As the death toll climbs in the wake of the Texas floods, lots of finger-pointing re: the NWS' forecasts and warnings. The bottom line: An agency reeling from cuts still issued timely outlooks & warnings. Lots of ?s though (1/2) www.cnn.com/2025/07/05/c...
For those looking for the National Climate Assessments: NCA5 (2023): repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/61... NCA4 vol. 1 (2017): repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/19... NCA4 vol. 2 (2018): repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/19... NCA3 (2014): repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/19...
Around 252 million years ago, life on Earth suffered its most catastrophic blow to date: a mass extinction event known as the “Great Dying” that wiped out around 90% of life.
NEW: Trump admin seeks to defund US network of labs that monitor CO2 levels in the atmosphere, including Mauna Loa, home to the famous "Keeling Curve." The moves would also affect weather forecasting centers. www.cnn.com/2025/07/01/c...
NEW: Hurricane forecasters at NOAA are getting a one-month reprieve before crucial satellite data is cut off by the Defense Dept. Delay is due to NOAA, NASA pushback because of the potential forecasting ramifications. edition.cnn.com/2025/06/30/w...
RECORD TEMPERATURE RESOURCE: Not only can you dive into LOCAL temp records, but it includes a summary of ALL records being set! @climatecentral.org @borenbears.bsky.social @afreedma.bsky.social @zacklabe.com @katharinehayhoe.com climatecentral.observablehq.cloud/local-record...
"The heat wave comes as the odds of extreme heat events globally are growing steeply as the world warms, along with their severity and duration...Heat waves are the type of extreme weather event that scientists can most reliably tie to climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution." (2/2)
The ongoing heat wave in the East is exposing vulnerabilities in US infrastructure plus public health risks. Once again needs to be said -- our roads, rails, bridges & more were built for a climate that no longer exists. (1/2) www.cnn.com/2025/06/25/w...
That's been the case in many areas of climate science, but I had yet to encounter it in extreme event attribution and on the subject of heat wave projections in particular.
Here’s my interview with Scott Simon on NPR’s weekend edition (he was very nice) www.npr.org/2025/06/21/n...
This book is truly among the best climate books I've yet read, and a great read even if you're not into climate.
This is due to atmospheric dynamics and other factors that the models aren't capturing well, experts told me. cc @frediotto.bsky.social & @michaelemann.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/c... (2/2)
I was surprised when working on this story about global warming's role in this heat wave to find scientists concerned that our models are underestimating future extreme heat severity, frequency and duration. (1/2)
New multiyear study finds concerning impacts of global warming on food production. Via @laurapaddison.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/06/18/c...
You can read the introduction to my book in the wonderful Atmos magazine here: atmos.earth/the-emotiona...
the newest JP Morgan climate risk report was released yesterday, this one focused on ports. the thing that stands out to me is just how much finance needs not only government data, but academia to interpret it. the main data on port risk come from open access articles like Nature Climate Change
DC climate peeps - I am so excited to be moderating a talk this evening with @drkatemarvel.bsky.social about her phenomenal new book, "Human Nature," which is out today! I hope to see you there. 6p at Peoples Book in Takoma. peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/human-...
The research took advantage of the knowledge that while the troposphere warms in response to increasing greenhouse gases, the stratosphere - especially the upper stratosphere, tends to cool. (3/3) www.cnn.com/2025/06/16/c...
The research examined temperature changes in the stratosphere that are a hallmark of greenhouse gas-induced warming. So before the advent of gas-powered cars, global warming was likely already evident. (2/3)
A groundbreaking new study finds the signal - or "fingerprint" - of human-caused global warming was likely detectable by 1885, earlier than previously thought. (1/3)
The saildrones have been active during the past 4 hurricane seasons, but due to a long delay in getting the request for a contract out, @noaa.gov will miss this unique source of data from the ocean surface. And the public will miss out on their viral videos. www.cnn.com/2025/06/13/w...
NEW: This hurricane season, forecasters will go without a key tool as NOAA won't have a fleet of drone ships to use for intercepting nature's fiercest Atlantic tempests. (1/2)
Just in: U.S. just saw it's 2nd-warmest #spring on record. Find summary and stats + map images from our report at: www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/nationa... via NOAA's NCEI
Fact check: Commerce Secretary Lutnick's claims about the "fully staffed" state of the National Weather Service, including the Nat'l Hurricane Center - www.cnn.com/2025/06/06/w...
He also said NOAA had not fired any meteorologists, and that the NWS is "fully staffed," neither of which are accurate... 2/2
Commerce Sec. Lutnick made a lot of erroneous claims about NWS staffing during congressional testimony this week, including that the Nat'l Hurricane Center is fully staffed. It's not. www.cnn.com/2025/06/06/w...
NASA scientists describe ‘absolute shitshow’ at NASA GISS as the Trump admin. seeks to eliminate the storied lab as an "independent entity" in favor of a broader, as-yet fuzzily-defined Earth modeling effort. www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/c...
Good news, but I hope people realize this will have very little impact on this hurricane season. It will take months to hire people, move and onboard them and then train them.
If only they hadn't shoved out the ones who were among our most experienced and our fresh hires in whom NWS had already invested training and development. Know what that is? Inefficient. Expensive. Dangerous.
SCOOP: The National Weather Service has secured permission to hire about 125 new meteorologists & other specialists as it faces acute staffing shortages in wake of Trump admin. cuts www.cnn.com/2025/06/02/w...
And now a second province - Saskatchewan, has declared a state of emergency due to the wildfires, and Canada has raised its national fire preparedness level to a 5 of 5 on the scale. Updated story: www.cnn.com/2025/05/29/w...
Massive blazes are burning across western and central Canada, forcing thousands to evacuate at the start of what's poised to be an active wildfire season. And the smoke is headed South, toward the Dakotas and Upper Midwest. www.cnn.com/2025/05/29/w...
UPDATE: We just received word that federal workers are attempting to shut down the stream at the NASA GISS building. Stay tuned as our scientists try to relocate: www.youtube.com/@wclivestrea...
The climate forecast for the next five years contains the first mention of the potential for an individual year to exceed 2°C of global warming (though it is remote, at 1%). Many more insights here. www.cnn.com/2025/05/28/c... Report url: wmo.int/publication-...
Please come along for a book launch event at the NYPL in Bryant Park! I’ll be joined by a journalist, a poet or two, and a bevy of mad scientists www.nypl.org/events/progr...
I'm giving a talk on how understanding planetary climate in the solar system helps us learn about Earth's climate at 1 AM EDT May, 31.
Weather and climate scientists determined to resist funding and program cuts in the geekiest way possible - with a 100-hour livestream of science presentations www.cnn.com/scientists-r...
"In the United States, the power sector was the second biggest source of greenhouse gases, behind transportation." Documents Show E.P.A. Wants to Erase Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/c...
Another one of the non-weather things that NOAA does. The National Geodetic Survey is actually the oldest part of NOAA. AND it appears the NGS website is down too.
We're expecting another above-average hurricane year as NOAA and FEMA have been hollowed out -- losing thousands of experts and staff. “There almost certainly will be less data for the models," one NOAA staffer said. w/ @afreedma.bsky.social and Gabe Cohen. www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/w...
The forecast is in: Hurricane season is going to be active again. Here are the numbers from the NOAA hurricane season outlook just issued: 13 to 19 named storms; 6 to 10 hurricanes; 3 to 5 major hurricanes of Cat. 3 or above. (Meanwhile, FEMA and NOAA are in turmoil.) www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/w...
Exposure to climate risk could affect your ability to get a mortgage + insurance when/if you go to buy a new home, a new report shows. It shows that climate risk is a credit risk for lenders, and a growing one at that. www.cnn.com/2025/05/19/c...