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In Brief: Soybeans may produce more antioxidants during years of extreme temperature and drought. A study conducted on Maryland soybeans between 1999 and 2002 found that extreme weather events actually increase the antioxidant levels in the soybean crop. 1999 and 2001 growing season temperature and precipitation levels were normal and the crops exhibited normal levels [...]

In Brief: Higher temperatures are reducing America’s snowfall, with a few regional exceptions. Snow is not just an inhibitor of holiday travelers, nor is it just a passive product of prevailing weather conditions. Snow is a weather maker in and of itself. Snow-covered ground reflects far more of the sun’s radiation than it otherwise would [...]

In Brief: Less ice cover on the Great Lakes is contributing to more snow regional lake effect snow. Over much of the U.S., the 20th century warming trend means less snow and more rain. In most areas, the lack of cold limits snowfall, but this is not true in the Great Lakes region. Here, temperatures [...]

AAA projects that 87.7 million Americans will be traveling more than 50 miles during the year-end holiday period.  About 88 percent of those travelers will be hitting the road and AAA expects to come to the aid of nearly 1.3 million stranded motorists this season. That help will come in the form of half-a-million tows; [...]

From January 5-12, 2010, Ann Posegate, Earth Gauge outreach coordinator, and Dan Satterfield, chief meteorologist at WHNT-TV, will embark on a media expedition to Antarctica. They have been selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to cover a range of science stories, including important weather and climate research. During their journey, Earth Gauge and WHNT [...]

Wood smoke is one of winter’s most distinctive smells – but while smoke may smell good, it’s not good for you. Smoke from wood fires contains a mixture of gases and tiny particles of ash, soot and wood tar. Particles that are less than 2.5 microns in size – 30 times smaller than the width [...]

B-roll for this tip is available. Monday, December 14 marked the beginning of Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count. The Count runs through January 5, 2010. The first Christmas Bird Count (CBC) took place on December 25, 1900 – 27 participants counted and identified about 18,500 birds, mostly in the northeastern U.S. Last year, over 2100 counts were [...]

December is East Coast Winter Storm (ECWS) season. These storms are powered by warm water that flows from the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream current flows along the Eastern Seaboard past Florida and the Carolinas before reaching Cape Hatteras, where the warm water heads out into the Atlantic. ECWS’s travel northward along the coast causing [...]

Winter storm season is here. Storms will be blowing in from the Pacific, bringing rainfall to lower elevations and snow to the mountains. This year, the eastern tropical Pacific is in an El Niño phase, meaning that its waters are warmer than average. When the eastern Pacific is in an El Niño phase, the northwestern [...]

Winter storm season is here. Storms will be blowing in from the Pacific, bringing rainfall to lower elevations and snow to the mountains. This year, the eastern tropical Pacific is in an El Niño phase, meaning that its waters are warmer than average. When the eastern Pacific is in an El Niño phase, the southern [...]

Winter storm season is here. Storms will be blowing in from the Pacific, bringing rainfall to lower elevations and snow to the mountains. This year, the eastern tropical Pacific is in an El Niño phase, meaning that its waters are warmer than normal. When the eastern Pacific is in an El Niño phase, the southwest [...]

Since at least 1960, more of Earth’s land glaciers have been shrinking than growing. As these glaciers shrink, they absorb heat from the atmosphere. To release the amount of energy that the glaciers have absorbed over the last 50 years, how many one-megaton hydrogen bombs would you need to detonate? a)    200 b)    1000 c)   [...]

The southeastern United States is one of the most highly populated areas in the nation. As more people move to the area, there is increased pressure on our freshwater resources. Pollution from rain water runoff is perhaps the most significant threat to freshwater.  Eroded soils clog fish gills, smother eggs, destroy aquatic habitat and generally make a river [...]

Dried arrangements and holiday wreaths may contain invasive plant species, such as Oriental bittersweet (found throughout the Eastern and Great Lakes states) and multiflora rose (found through the Eastern and Midwest U.S., Colorado, California and Oregon). When these arrangements hang outside, wind and birds foraging for food can carry away berries and seeds, which may [...]

All animals need food, water and shelter throughout the year. Constructing habitat boxes is a great way to help. New England Wild Flower Society added several of these hanging, open-ended boxes to the Wildlife Garden at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA, this year. They are partially filled with objects like branches and broken [...]

Many people believe that late fall and winter are times of scarcity for wildlife, which may prompt them to leave feed out for deer. The reality is that local wildlife is well-adapted to our climate and capable of surviving without our help. In fact, feeding deer can be harmful to them by enticing them to [...]

When it’s chilly, we pile on thick coats and wool socks to keep warm. But what do the creatures living on our beaches do to cope with the cold? Intertidal invertebrates like starfish and sea anemones can be exposed to very cold air during high tide. Between high and low tide, they experience large changes in [...]

Ever wonder why some trees have their trunks painted white?  Did you know that too much sun in the winter can damage young trees? According to the National Center for Appropriate Technology, sunscald can occur on cold winter days when the afternoon sun is high in the sky. Heat given off by the sun can [...]

What do ceiling fans and tropical cyclones have in common? How about ocean currents and the microwaves that heat your food? Both ceiling fans and tropical cyclones have kinetic energy – energy that an object possesses due to its motion. Ocean currents have kinetic energy as well, and microwaves are powered by electricity that is [...]