Fires Tear Through Los Angeles
Powerful Santa Ana winds and dry conditions contributed to the rapid spread of several brush fires in the county. Read More…
General
Cold and Snow Wallop the U.S.
The first major, widespread winter storm of 2025 delivered snow, ice, and frigid temperatures to a large swath of the country. Read More…
Cyclone-Damaged Mayotte
Lush green hillsides turned brown after Cyclone Chido hit the islands in December 2024. Read More…
Ghana’s Declining Forest Reserves
Logging, farming, and fires have contributed to the loss and degradation of forest reserves in the West African country. Read More…
December Puzzler
Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The December 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting. How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the location, or … Read more
November Puzzler
Update on December 17, 2024: This Landsat image shows the Messak Settafet plateau in southwestern Libya. Congratulations to Jim Wright for being the first reader to identify the location, and to Nerissa-Cesarina Urbani for naming the plateau. Read more about the area in “Human Fingerprints on an Ancient Landscape.” Every month on Earth Matters, we … Read more
October Puzzler
Update on October 30, 2024: This Landsat image shows ghost forests in North Carolina. Congratulations to Eric JF Kleijssen for being the first reader to identify the location. Read more about the area in “Ghost Forests Creep into North Carolina.” Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The October 2024 puzzler … Read more
California fires live: 6m people under critical fire threat as dangerous winds expected; governor says conditioning aid ‘un-American’
Forecasters warn of ‘particularly dangerous weather situation’ in California; Gavin Newsom hits back at House speaker for ‘politicizing’ tragedy ‘Running to danger’: 1,000 incarcerated firefighters on LA frontlines Tell us about financial consequences you are facing LA mayor, Karen Bass, has shared a phone number for residents who have evacuated to get assistance in finding … Read more
LA braces for more fire evacuations as experts warn of new ‘dangerous weather situation’
Region faces ‘extreme fire risk’ warnings and ‘significant risk of rapid fire spread’ as official death toll expected to rise As forecasters warn of another “particularly dangerous weather situation” across northern Los Angeles, residents braced for new wildfire evacuation orders, even as the official death toll from last week’s fires in Altadena and the Pacific … Read more
Climate ‘whiplash’ events increasing exponentially around world
Global heating means atmosphere can drive both extreme droughts and floods with rapid switches Climate “whiplash” between extremely wet and dry conditions, which spurred catastrophic fires in Los Angeles, is increasing exponentially around the world because of global heating, analysis has found. Climate whiplash is a rapid swing between very wet or dry conditions and … Read more