Tag: severe weather
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Extreme Weather in Late 2025: A Costly Global Wake-Up Call
As 2025 drew to a close, extreme weather battered communities across the globe, resulting in more than $120 billion in economic losses—a stark reminder of our collective vulnerability to intensifying climate and weather hazards[1][4]. Here in the United States, the aftermath of devastating wildfires in California quickly gave way to severe winter storms and brutal…
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The Unrelenting Rains of December 2025: Southern California Faces Flooding, Mudslides, and Community Strain
Southern California’s holiday season in 2025 unfolded under torrential skies. After a relentless series of storms, the region found itself grappling with widespread flooding, dangerous mudslides, and major disruptions to daily life and travel. As a meteorologist, I’ve seen the weather hit California hard before, but this year’s sequence of atmospheric rivers—powerful, moisture-laden storms arriving…
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Hawk’s Boxing Day Brief: UK front pages flag tax and political shake‑up; $1.8B Powerball hits Arkansas; storms and spending shifts mark the holidays
The Boxing Day news cycle captures a split-screen holiday: Britain’s papers signal a jittery political and economic mood, the U.S. crowns a record holiday lottery winner, and severe weather and shifting consumer habits continue to reshape end‑of‑year life. In the UK, a sweep of front pages underscores how unsettled the post‑election landscape feels. A roundup…
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Hawk’s Christmas Day Brief: West Coast storms snarl travel, NOAA flags rare “high risk” flooding; DOJ finds 1M+ new Epstein files; Saudi drafts tough pesticide penalties
A potent Pacific storm is hammering the West Coast on Christmas Day, snarling one of the year’s busiest travel periods. Airlines and roadways across the region faced major disruptions as heavy rain and powerful winds swept into key hubs from Seattle to Southern California [2]. NOAA has issued a rare “high risk” designation for flash…
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Christmas 2025: California Slammed by Life-Threatening Atmospheric River, Flash Floods, and Chaos
As millions of families across California prepared for a festive Christmas, one of the state’s most formidable weather systems in years unleashed chaos from Sacramento to San Diego. This rare, multi-day atmospheric river event – essentially a conveyor belt of Pacific moisture – has triggered widespread flash floods, power outages, and dangerous debris flows, while…
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Record-Breaking Christmas Heat Wave: The Science and Impacts Behind December 2025’s Extreme Weather
For many across the United States, Christmas conjures images of frosty air, snow-dusted landscapes, and bundled-up traditions. Not this year. In December 2025, an unseasonable heat dome has settled across much of the country, pushing temperatures to record-breaking highs in more than three dozen cities—from Denver and Des Moines to Tulsa and Wichita. This extraordinary…
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Holiday Weather Woes: Atmospheric Rivers, Flooding, and Coast-to-Coast Travel Disruptions in December 2025
The final weeks of December 2025 have been anything but calm for millions across the United States, as complex storm systems and unseasonably warm air patterns have brought widespread impacts just in time for the busiest travel days of the year. Let’s take a closer look at how this multifaceted weather pattern is affecting communities,…
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Weekend Brief: EU’s €90bn Lifeline to Ukraine, U.S. Strikes ISIS in Syria, Storms Snarl Holiday Travel, and TikTok’s New U.S. Deal
A volatile holiday weekend is unfolding across geopolitics, technology, and travel: Europe moves to lock in long-term financing for Kyiv as Moscow sharpens its rhetoric, the U.S. unleashes strikes on ISIS targets in Syria, fierce weather tangles millions of itineraries, and a newly signed TikTok deal reshapes the app’s path in America. EU backs Ukraine…
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Severe Winter Storms and Scientific Uncertainty: How Dismantling NCAR Endangers America’s Weather Preparedness
America is facing a dual threat this week: an immense winter storm impacting millions in the northern and western states, and the looming shutdown of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a pillar of U.S. weather and climate prediction. As a meteorologist, I’m deeply alarmed — not just by the blizzard bearing down on…
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Early Winter Wallop: Heavy Snow, Arctic Air, and Floods Slam the United States
December often signals the official arrival of winter weather in the U.S., but the start of the 2025-2026 season has been remarkable for its intensity. Over the past week, millions of Americans across multiple regions faced a one-two punch of extreme weather: heavy snowfall and bitterly cold temperatures in the Northeast and Midwest, and still-receding…
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