Articles tagged as Weather | Smithsonian Magazine

Louisiana is spending $42.5 million to rebuild the marshes in the Grand Liard Bayou. Without the project, the land was expected to disappear entirely by 2050.

The Residents of This Louisiana Island Are America’s First “Climate Refugees”

As the sea levels rise, these photos provide a big picture view of a place losing the battle against climate change

June 29, 2016

Prospecting for fossils in the Morrison Formation near Shell, Wyoming

Hunting Lost Worlds in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin

A geology tour with Kirk Johnson, Director of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and Will Clyde, a geology professor at University of New Hampshire

June 15, 2016

Observations for the study were taken from the Mauna Loa Observatory atop one of Hawaii Island's five volcanoes.

New Research

Earth’s Carbon Dioxide Levels Surpass Long-Feared Milestone

Say goodbye to 400 ppm—and hello to Earth’s new atmospheric reality

June 14, 2016

Cool Finds

When It Rains in Boston, the Sidewalks Reveal Poetry

Water-resistant spray paint creates hidden poems on Beantown’s streets

May 23, 2016

This visualization shows how temperatures in the top 1,000 feet, approximately, of the Pacific Ocean at the equator were warmer or cooler than average during 5-day periods centered on three dates this spring: March 14, April 13 and May 3.

Conditions are looking ripe for the cooler climate pattern to take over in the Pacific

May 20, 2016

Lightning over Lake Maracaimbo, November 2015

New Research

NASA Announces World’s New Lightning Hotspot

The electric capital tops the charts with lightning storms 297 nights per year

May 5, 2016

Warm waters have turned the country’s once-pristine coast into a putrid sight

May 4, 2016

Cool Finds

Watch Earth’s Atmosphere Brilliantly Light Up From Space

The glow isn’t from an aurora, it’s a phenomena called airglow

April 19, 2016

A diver sorts through the remains of a ship that sank in 1025 A.D. off the coast of Turkey. Though this site is out of the line of most cyclonic activity, similar sunken ships may contain a trove of information for climate scientists.

New Research

Ancient Shipwrecks Offer Clues Into the History of Hurricanes

Patterns in ancient shipwrecks are helping scientists fill in the gaps of the patchy hurricane records

March 8, 2016

Sled dogs may not have enough snow during the 2016 Iditarod.

Could a warm winter make the famous sled race go to the dogs?

March 2, 2016

Desert Gold wildflowers carpet Death Valley during the 2016 "super bloom."

A rare spectacle covers Death Valley in wildflowers

February 23, 2016

An African elephant wanders Hlane National Park in Swaziland. Now, 18 of the park's elephants may be airlifted to the United States due to drought.

As the driest rainy season in 35 years threatens southern Africa, elephants have become a flashpoint

February 22, 2016

A thick wetsuit is mandatory garb for surfers braving the ice-cold ocean.

For New England’s Snow Surfers, Surf’s Up Even When Temps Are Down

Catch a very cold wave at the New England Mid-Winter Surfing Championships

February 11, 2016

Sakurajima spews ash in this undated photo.

Lightning and lava? No biggie

February 8, 2016

Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, makes his appearance during the Groundhog Day celebration at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Trending Today

A Short History of Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil is part of a tradition with roots that extend back thousands of years

February 2, 2016

New Research

The Moon’s Tidal Forces May Affect How Much It Rains

The higher the moon, the lower the chance of rain

February 1, 2016

The porcupine is among the animals that thrive beneath winter snows.

Age of Humans

There’s a Secret World Under the Snow, and It’s in Trouble

How do animals survive under the snow? We’re only beginning to understand—just as climate change may rewrite everything

January 27, 2016

Alex is the first January Atlantic hurricane to form in almost 80 years

January 14, 2016

Ask Smithsonian: What Is Wind?

Whether arriving on a gentle breeze or a stiff gale, air moves like water responding to high and low pressures around the Earth

January 11, 2016

Do these satellite sea surface images look similar? Experts think so. The image of the Pacific Ocean on the left was taken recently. To the right is a sea surface image taken in December 1997.

The world is bracing for record rains and droughts

December 30, 2015