Background Articles

A small, furry rodent — the vole — is showing up throughout Utah as this year’s record amount of snow melts. Orchards, residential lawns, pastures, and golf course lawns are feeling the brunt of the vole’s activity. Voles are the world’s most prolific mammals.

As the Arctic continues to warm faster than the rest of the planet, evidence mounts that the region is experiencing unprecedented environmental change. The hydrological cycle is projected to intensify throughout the twenty-first century, with increased evaporation from expanding open water areas and more precipitation. The latest projections from the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) point to more rapid Arctic warming and sea-ice loss by the year 2100 than in previous projections, and consequently, larger and faster changes in the hydrological cycle. Arctic precipitation (rainfall) increases more rapidly in CMIP6 than in CMIP5 due to greater global warming and poleward moisture transport, greater Arctic amplification and sea-ice loss and increased sensitivity of precipitation to Arctic warming. The transition from a snow- to rain-dominated Arctic in the summer and autumn is projected to occur decades earlier and at a lower level of global warming, potentially under 1.5 °C, with profound climatic, ecosystem and socio-economic impacts. The Arctic warms faster than other areas of the planet, which also influences precipitation. Here, the authors show that the latest CMIP6 model ensemble shows a faster Arctic warming and sea-ice loss, causing an earlier transition from a snow- to a rain-dominated Arctic than previously thought.

Shaktoolik, a village in Alaska, is still waiting for aid from FEMA to rebuild a protective berm that was destroyed by a typhoon, leaving the community vulnerable to storms and erosion.

An assessment by geotechnical experts will need to be completed in order to know the stability of the slide and understand continuing risk.

Hail severity will increase in most regions of the world while Australia and Europe are expected to experience more hailstorms as a result of climate change, an international review led by a UNSW Sydney researcher has found.

An evacuation alert has been issued by Yukon Emergency Measures Organization for areas of Tagish, Marsh Lake and Lewes River Road. This alert is due to high water and flooding in the areas. Water levels have exceeded what they were in the 2007 flood.

As grape harvest time nears across Greece, winemakers are worried about the impact on output from a succession of extreme weather events.

Pori and Rovaniemi are among the areas to be worst affected in the coming decades, the Finnish Climate Change Panel warned in a new report.

Around 600 competitors faced what the race director called the wettest edition of the race in its 32 years. The impact on competitors, a grueling race. The impact on the trails - mud, erosion and more mud.

"Talk of Alaska discusses the science behind landslide risk and early warning systems in the wake of Wrangell's third deadly landslide since 2015."

Yes, the city's official measuring station has recorded later snowfalls — but none that come in at an inch or more.

The behemoth snowman that stole Anchorage’s heart years ago is back — as big as always, and looking friendlier than ever.

Weather systems that carry warm air inland, bringing not just rain, but also pushing up freezing levels, causing rapid snowpack melting. The atmospheric river hitting B.C.'s central coast will also pose a risk in the Interior.

"Even ordinary rainfall can be regarded as an extreme event in polar regions," Dou said. This is because rain-on-snow events, which occur when rain falls onto an existing snowpack and freezes into an ice crust, impact wildlife, infrastructure and local communities.

Cars and houses submerged in water, commuters wading through buses knee-high in floods, and homeowners counting the cost of destroyed properties.