Relentless rain hammered Central Florida into Monday, unleashing flash floods that stranded drivers, swamped roads and flooded homes. The National Weather Service called it a “particularly dangerous situation,” reporting up to 18 inches in Lake County and 13 in Brevard. Flash flood emergencies covered Eustis and Mount Dora, with warnings...
Internal Interior Department drafts obtained by CBS News show the Trump administration is moving to auction offshore drilling leases in new areas as soon as 2026, including waters off New England, the Carolinas and California. The push follows a formal move to reopen 1.56 million acres in the Arctic National...
Coffee farming in Brazil is fueling deforestation that ultimately undermines the crop itself, a new Coffee Watch report warns. Using satellite imagery and government data, the group found more than 1,200 square miles of forest cleared for coffee between 2001 and 2023, and over 42,000 square miles lost in coffee-dense...
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum finalized plans to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1.5 million-acre coastal plain to potential oil and gas drilling, restoring previously canceled leases and clearing the way for future sales promised by President Donald Trump. The move, welcomed by Alaska leaders and Kaktovik’s Iñupiat corporation but...
The Trump administration announced steps to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska, including a winter lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1.56-million-acre coastal plain and the reinstatement of seven leases canceled by the Biden administration. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the land “should and will be supporting...
A sweeping new Science study led by Shedd Aquarium biologist Ross Cunning declares Florida’s elkhorn and staghorn corals functionally extinct after the record 2023 heat wave. Divers assessed more than 52,000 colonies at nearly 400 sites and found 97.8% to 100% mortality in the Florida Keys and near Dry Tortugas—erasing...
Tropical Storm Melissa is creeping through the Caribbean at as little as 2 miles an hour and could strengthen into a hurricane as steering influences stay weak and waters run unusually hot. Meteorologist Kerry Emanuel says potential intensity is elevated, and conditions favor the storm’s slow crawl. Research points to...
Retired by the Trump administration in May, the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Database has been relaunched outside government by Climate Central, using the same methods and led by previous administrator Adam Smith, a former NOAA economist. Its first update shows the first half of 2025 is costliest since 1980,...
Climate Central reports the first half of 2025 was the costliest on record for US disasters, with 14 events topping $1bn and $101bn in damages. Ferocious January wildfires in Los Angeles drove the toll—$61bn, about 16,000 buildings lost and roughly 400 indirect deaths—ranking among the priciest US climate disasters and...
Typhoon Halong battered Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, damaging up to 15 villages. In Kipnuk, state officials estimate 90% of homes destroyed; nearly all 700 residents were evacuated. Record tides and 107 mph winds swept away houses; 67-year-old Ella Mae Kashatok died and two relatives are missing. The storm exposed deepening climate...
