Our favorite stories from the eye of the storm in 2024 » Yale Climate Connection

There are many stories about how climate change and extreme weather intersect, and how humans respond to this mix. At Yale Climate Connection, we have been working on this work for years, including through our Eye of the Storm unit (EOTS), led by longtime meteorologists and weather/climate writers Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Hansen.

We know that not all readers will read all 151 EOTS posts we have published since January 1 of this year. To make things easier, we've highlighted some of our favorites below. Many of them are written by Jeff and Bob, while others are written by occasional or one-time contributors who enliven and expand our coverage.

Back on some deep dives

The culmination of the 2024 multi-part EOTS posts is Jeff’s epic summer three-part piece on how (and whether) the United States is truly ready to adapt to the painful changes climate change is already beginning to bring, and the extent of its impact Extreme weather may or may not initiate this process.

Can huge extreme weather events inspire action on the climate crisis?
(July 24)

When will climate change drastically change life in the United States?
(August 19)

How should you prepare for the climate change storm?
(August 20)

In December, Bob studied the potential for collapse of the Atlantic Multilayer Overturning Circulation (AMOC), an important circulation flow across the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf Stream. This circulation is expected to slow down over the course of this century and beyond, and there is growing concern that the loop may begin to approach complete collapse in the coming decades—a collapse that may be identifiable years in advance.

Atlantic circulation collapse? New clues about fate of critical conveyor belt
(December 10)

How worried should you be about the collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?
(December 11)

Even more interesting is that meteorologist Michael Lowry gives us a vivid account of an intense hurricane search flight in 2022. Data collection inside cyclones.

Meteorologist turns scary flight into research project
(September 6)

A new era of hurricane tracking begins
(September 6)

How our perception of climate change compares to what it actually “looks like”?

Several articles this year delves into the contrast between popular belief and the reality of human-caused climate change. A growing number of weather events across the country fall into the “wet-to-wet, dry-to-dry” and “weather whiplash” themes, both of which many studies have linked to a warming climate. Climate communicator Kait Parker delves into the stark contrasts across Texas in the spring of 2024, when a severe drought hit the state's border with Mexico and record-breaking drought hit the rest of the state rainfall.

Sharp divisions in Texas show what climate change looks like
(June 18)

Heat waves are especially difficult to capture in photography. When people suffer or die from heat, it's usually behind closed doors and out of sight. The natural (and healthy) instinct to cool off in a pool or ocean often results in light-hearted images, but can also produce extremely jarring feelings.

How do you imagine a heat wave?
(June 26)

Another image that has been stereotyped is that of “climate paradise”. It was conceived as a place where people could find refuge from climate extremes (especially heat, fires and rising sea levels). However, many so-called refuges are located in cool, humid climates that are increasingly prone to flooding, as highlighted by the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Helene in and around Asheville, North Carolina.

Has the idea of ​​a “climate refuge” been drowned out?
(October 1)

Hurricane-related damage in a warming world

The frenzied hurricane action in the Atlantic in 2024 (see Jeff Masters’ summary of this “extraordinarily active” season) has left an exclamation point that at a time when the atmosphere is in a favorable state, the ocean How warming promotes tropical cyclone activity. The nonprofit Climate Center launched a new tool this year, the Ocean Change Index, that quantifies the extent to which observed anthropogenic climate change at a given time and place affects the likelihood of warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures. In the case of Helen and Milton, two of the most catastrophic storms in the United States this year, researchers concluded that this year's record and near-record warm waters caused economic losses to be nearly twice as high as they would have been without climate change.

Human-caused ocean warming has exacerbated recent hurricanes, including all 11 Atlantic hurricanes in 2024
(November 20)

The 2024 Atlantic season ended in strange fashion, with record-breaking early and late-season hurricanes and an unprecedented month-long lull from late August to late September. Pearl Marvell, features editor and Spanish translator at the Yale Center for Climate Connections, takes an insightful look at the physical and human damage to the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines after Hurricane Beryl swept through at Category 4 intensity. destroy.

Union Island Ballad (August 6)

If you're wondering whether it's time to add a Category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson Scale, two researchers have looked into the question. It turns out that for scientific purposes the answer may be very different than the answer for the general public.

Is Category 6 required on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale?
(February 5)

Wildfires (re)join tornadoes as major threat in Great Plains

Our warming climate makes ecosystems more likely to dry out, increasing the risk of wildfires that scorch the landscape. The largest wildfires in the United States so far in 2024 are not happening in California, Montana or Alaska. It happened in Texas and Oklahoma—a monster that swept through more than 1 million acres, much of it in the first 24 hours. The Smokehouse Creek Fire is the latest in a series of wildfire disasters fueled by intense heat and high winds in the Southern Plains, including some of the region's worst fires since European settlement more than a century ago. Researchers are now combining precise satellite fire detection with warning and awareness technologies already used for tornadoes. The results could improve wildfire safety nationwide.

New warning system could save lives during wildfires
(March 26)

Two of our contributors show how development designed to withstand tornadoes can lead to overall safer, more climate-friendly communities. Storm chaser and photographer Charlie Randall visited Greensburg, Kansas, which became a pioneer in renewable energy in the Plains after being hit by tornadoes in 2007. Research scientist Daphne LaDue explains how simple building practices help reduce damage to most homes hit by the most violent tornadoes: “We know how to build better. We just need to start doing it.

Portrait of Kansas town gearing up for clean energy after devastating tornado
(June 10)

How to make your home more tornado-resistant
(April 9)

On April 3, the 50th anniversary of the 1974 superoutbreak that produced a record 30 tornadoes classified as violent, three experts share their thoughts on how tornado behavior and awareness may evolve as a result The increasing frequency of highly vulnerable tornadoes in the lower Mississippi River is accompanied by dizzying changes in communications and warning methods.

How will the next supertornado outbreak play out in tomorrow's world?
(April 3)