Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Meteorologist Eric Holthaus on growing concern of dust storms and why recent storms were a preview of future Over the weekend, more than 120 tornadoes rampaged across at least 11 states in a three-day severe weather outbreak that killed more than 40 people. In addition to the tornadoes, the storm system brought extremely strong winds to drought-stricken parts of the plains states, kicking up dust storms and wildfires from Texas to Kansas. The combined impact has now become one of the deadliest non-hurricane weather disasters in decades in the US. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (Noaa) Storm Prediction Center – the nerve center of severe weather forecasting in the US – scientists worked around the clock for days to anticipate the storms and give ample warning to those in their path. The center now has five staff vacancies, including two of its three senior roles in fire forecasting. Still, overworked meteorologists there passed one of the biggest tests yet of the newly diminished National Weather Service. Continue reading...

Advocates warn firings and funding freezes already risk poisoning drinking water and decimating fish population Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s attacks on federal agencies and funding freezes will be “cataclysmic” for the environment of the sensitive Great Lakes region if not reversed, industry and environmental advocates in the region warn. Initial actions taken since Trump returned to the White House in January – and put Musk in charge of slashing the federal government – already risk poisoning drinking water, decimating fish populations, and risking the jobs and health of tens of millions of people who rely on the lake system, they add. Continue reading...

Witnessing near-miss roadkill on a daily basis makes me wonder if we can be better neighbors to wildlife Heart racing, I hold my breath and brace to witness the impact. The spindly fawn crosses first, tottering its way across the two-lane artery that borders my house. I watch a truck approaching in the opposite direction and wait for it to slow down. Will it? Continue reading...

Work and pensions secretary says Benefits crackdown will save £5bn by 2030 but disability charities say cuts are ‘immoral’. This live blog is closed Q: Why have you changed your mind on this? Badenoch says she has not changed her mind. As a member of the government, she abided by collective responsibility. She says in government she regularly questioned the case for net zero. The person who’s been consistent in all this is me. I’m not going to pretend that I won’t have critics … This is politics. Being a politician is about being criticised. What I’m asking people to do is listen to what I’m saying. I am not doing what all the other parties are doing. We are changing the way we do things. That’s not how it works. You can’t just pull [a date] out of the air. And what we did was pick a target and then start thinking of how to get there. We need to start thinking about it in a different way. How does this impact families? How is business going to help us deliver? And that’s what the policy commissions are going to do. Continue reading...