Weather

The wildfire season started early this month in the northwestern U.S., and the huge blaze still burns in Fort McMurray, Alberta, after three weeks of fighting the flames. What causes wildfires on this scale, and how can we prevent them? 

Microbes in the atmosphere influence life on the planet's surface.

"Invisible Nature: Life in the Clouds" was first published on bioGraphic. ©2016 California Academy of Sciences.

The proportion of storms that strike land as a Category 4 and 5 in the western Pacific is rising, because of warmer coastal waters

Information graphics demystify Earth’s most powerful storms

Officials and forecasters warn of potentially dangerous flooding and winds 

Sewer systems in many cities, stressed by age and growing populations, will spew more raw refuse into the streets during heavy rains

Communities should plan defenses and emergency responses based on the climate of the future, not the past

Forecasters head to Venezuelan hotspot in an attempt to model future strikes

Meteorologists say the storm was essentially a hurricane without high winds

Temperatures, CO2, ocean heat and Arctic sea ice changes all saw sobering firsts

A hurricane has not appeared in the Gulf of Mexico in almost three years

A thermal spike linked to the solar system’s largest storm explains weather on gas-giant planets