Extreme Weather
Why Wildfire Smoke Can Smell Like Burning Plastic
The acrid, chemical smell in wildfire smoke isn't your imagination — it's benzene and formaldehyde, and sometimes it's literally burning plastic.
Why California Drains Its Reservoirs Before a Storm Even Arrives
Before a single drop of storm runoff arrives, California dam operators are already emptying space for it. New atmospheric-river forecasting means they can now time that release to the hour.
What Climate Overshoot Means Now That 1.5°C Is Gone
A new UN report concedes the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C limit will be crossed within years. What happens next is called "overshoot" — and it will shape climate policy for the rest of the century.
California's Fire Insurer Just Needed Its Own Bailout
After the 2025 Los Angeles fires, California's insurer of last resort needed a $1 billion rescue, its first since 1993. Homeowners who never filed a claim are footing part of the bill.
Indiana's Flood Was a 1-in-1,000-Year Storm the Drains Couldn't Handle
Record rain overwhelmed small-town Indiana this month. The bigger story is a stormwater system that earned a D on its last national report card, and a $115 billion repair bill nobody's paying.
Graupel vs. Hail: The Difference Is in How Cold It Got
It looks like hail and sounds like hail — but squeeze it, and graupel crumbles like styrofoam because it forms almost the opposite way.
Pyrocumulonimbus, Explained: When Wildfires Make Their Own Storms
When a wildfire burns hot enough, it can build a genuine thunderstorm above itself, one that sparks new fires with dry lightning and can loft smoke into the stratosphere for months.
Why Winter Storms Get Named — and the National Weather Service Won't
The Weather Channel has named winter storms for 14 seasons running, using a population-and-area formula it built itself. The National Weather Service — and the AP — still won't use the names.
Category 5 Typhoon Bavi Closes In on Guam With 160 mph Winds
Shelters are filling and the ports are shut as a Category 5-equivalent storm bears down on Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, with landfall due Monday.
Four Dead as Flash Floods Slam Kentucky; Beshear Declares Emergency
Six to seven inches of rain in hours killed at least four people and forced dozens of water rescues across central Kentucky.
Europe's Heat Pushes East as Germany Sets a 41.3 C Record
A record-breaking heat dome that has killed dozens in Western Europe is sliding east, with Germany and Poland bracing for the weekend peak.