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Plants and animals that live high up in the mountains have to be able to tolerate strong winds and long durations of snow cover. Most animals, such as the yellow-bellied marmot, deal with long and cold winters by hibernating. Over the last century, the Rocky Mountain region in Colorado has warmed by between 1.5 and [...]

Earth Gauge Video is available for this tip.
In Brief: Temperatures in local waterways are rising from a combination of factors.
Moving from Chicago to Baltimore, where the average temperature is about ten degrees Fahrenheit warmer, might take a little bit of adjustment but almost certainly wouldn’t be fatal for humans. Most fish and other aquatic species, [...]

Many of Earth’s great ice masses, which collectively form the cryosphere, are floating on ocean surfaces. There are three main collections of floating ice: the Arctic sea ice, the Antarctic ice shelves and the Antarctic sea ice. All three components have seasonal fluctuations, with the Antarctic sea ice showing the most dramatic differences between winter [...]

In Brief: Warming across the state of Michigan has been followed by an influx of species formerly inhabiting lands to the south.
The Great Lakes region is an ecological “transition zone.” To the north lie boreal forests dominated by conifer trees. To the southwest lie oak savannas and prairies, and to the southeast lie deciduous [...]

One of Earth’s most dramatic seasonal cycles is the waxing and waning of the sea ice that surrounds Antarctica, the driest, darkest and coldest continent. At its maximum extent at the end of the Southern Hemisphere winter in September, a 6.9 million square mile expanse of ice extends from Antarctica’s shores out into the Southern [...]

In northern China, how much rain falls each year is controlled by the strength of the Asian Monsoon – the system of seasonal winds that bring moist marine air onto land during the summer and cold dry air out to sea during the winter. When the monsoon system is strong, there is ample rainfall and [...]

In Brief: Higher elevation areas are experiencing the overall global trend of wind speed “stilling” more acutely than surrounding lowlands.
Wind speeds in the mid-latitudes have shown a downward trend over the past 30-50 years, a phenomenon known as “stilling.” Any trends in wind speed have implications for the water cycle, ecosystems and wind energy [...]

In Brief: Different plants use different signals to tell them when to come out of winter dormancy, which affects their response to climate change.
Phenology is the study of naturally recurring events, such as plants blooming in spring. In moist temperate regions like the Eastern United States, some plants come out of their winter dormancy [...]

In the Northern Hemisphere, deciduous trees are beginning to come out of their dormant season and unfurl their leaves. Soon, the greys and browns that characterize America’s broadleaf forests during winter will be replaced the by the greens of spring and summer. Over the last four decades, there has been a global trend in the [...]

Winter is ending and the growing or “frost free” season is almost here! The frost free season is defined as the continuous period of the year when the temperature does not drop below freezing. When this season starts and how long it lasts have important implications for the plants and animals that live around us, [...]

Winter is ending and the growing or “frost free” season is almost here! The frost free season is defined as the continuous period of the year when the temperature does not drop below freezing. When this season starts and how long it lasts have important implications for the plants and animals that live around us, [...]

Winter is ending and the growing or “frost free” season is almost here! The frost free season is defined as the continuous period of the year when the temperature does not drop below freezing. When this season starts and how long it lasts have important implications for the plants and animals that live around us, [...]

Winter is ending and the growing or “frost free” season is almost here! The frost free season is defined as the continuous period of the year when the temperature does not drop below freezing. When this season starts and how long it lasts have important implications for the plants and animals that live around us, [...]

Over the past 250 years, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per million to almost 400. Plants use sunlight to convert this atmospheric carbon into the sugars and starches that make up their tissues. As the amount of carbon in the atmosphere changes, plant growth patterns change [...]

The temperature/pressure difference between the equatorial regions and the poles is at its maximum during the winter months. The energy this difference generates is thought to power the “storm tracks,” or the bands in the mid-latitudes where east to west traveling storms (cyclonic high and low pressure systems) are most common. The storm track over [...]

Snowfall and snow cover have direct effects on transportation, soil freeze/thaw cycles, water availability, flood frequency, water quality, wildlife, forest fires and more.
Far from being just a passive product of prevailing climatic conditions, snow cover also influences climate by changing the surface albedo, the amount of solar radiation a surface reflects. The presence of snow, [...]

While commonly considered two separate lakes, Lakes Michigan and Huron are actually hydrologically one body of water – they are connected at the Straits of Mackinaw and rise and fall in unison. Since 1980, Lake Michigan-Huron has been warming and annually averaged surface temperatures are now 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they were in the [...]

In the Canadian Arctic, Musk Oxen endure the long winters and short summers that characterize one of Earth’s most extreme environments. The animals have spent millennia adapting to the brutal cold, but now increases in temperature are presenting new problems. A parasitic species of nematode dwells in the musk oxen lungs and too many nematodes [...]

Much attention has been given to the decline of sea ice over the North Pole, which fell to a September minimum of 1.6 million square miles in 2007, about 40 percent below normal levels. On the other side of the world, the sea ice that extends from Antarctica’s continental ice sheets out over the ocean [...]

Near the center of Antarctica in the polar vortex, strong westerly winds that blow in a circle around the continent during winter trap an envelope of air near the South Pole, prohibiting this air from mixing with warmer air masses closer to the equator. The extreme cold in the vortex causes clouds to form in [...]