Early-Onset El Niño
By David Gelles 08/13/26
About 1,000 miles south of Hawaii, the first signs of El Niño have come to Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean.
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PRECIPITATION
PRECIPITATION
Climate change can affect the intensity and frequency of precipitation.
Rising temperatures will intensify the Earth’s water cycle, increasing evaporation. Increased evaporation will result in more frequent and intense storms. For example, warmer oceans increase the amount of water that evaporates into the air. When more moisture-laden air moves over land or converges into a storm system, it can produce more intense precipitation—for example, heavier rain and snow storms (as we saw with Hurricane Helene in October, 2024). Increased evaporation will also contribute to drying over some land areas. As a result, storm-affected areas are likely to experience increases in precipitation and increased risk of flooding, while areas located far away from storm tracks are likely to experience less precipitation and increased risk of drought.
The percentage of land area experiencing much greater than normal yearly precipitation totals increased between 1895 and 2023. There has been much year-to-year variability, however. In some years there were no abnormally wet areas, while a few others had abnormally high precipitation totals over 10 percent or more of the contiguous 48 states’ land area. For example, 1941 was extremely wet in the West, while 1983 was very wet nationwide.
Precipitation can have wide-ranging effects on human well-being and ecosystems. Rainfall, snowfall, and the timing of snowmelt can all affect the amount of surface water and groundwater available for drinking, irrigation, and industry. It can also influence river flooding and can determine what types of animals and plants (including crops) can survive in a particular place.
Changes in precipitation can disrupt a wide range of natural processes, particularly if these changes occur more quickly than plant and animal species can adapt.
This figure shows the percentage of the land area of the contiguous 48 states where a much greater than normal portion of total annual precipitation has come from extreme single-day precipitation events. The bars represent individual years, while the line is a nine-year weighted average.
Data source: NOAA, 2024
CURRENT NEWS
KEY RESOURCES
Extreme Precipitation in a Warming Climate
05/28/24
Climate change is supercharging the water cycle, bringing heavier precipitation extremes across the U.S.
The places in the U.S. most at risk for extreme rainfall
06/26/23
Kim Schultz still struggles to describe how hard and fast the rain fell in her corner of southern Indiana that afternoon last September. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Never,” she recalled. Relentless rainfall inundated…
The 8th National Risk Assessment: The Precipitation Problem
06/26/23
Flooding from heavy rainfall events is a dangerous phenomenon and has become increasingly more probable and severe in the United States due to climate change. As air temperatures increase, more water vapor may be held…
Extreme Precipitation Increase
09/14/22
Global warming leads to an increase in both ocean evaporation into the atmosphere and the amount of water vapor the atmosphere can hold when fully saturated. Warmer air, holding more moisture creates conditions more favorable…
MORE NEWS
King County sewage rates to soar as stronger storms overpower pipes
04/27/26
Which states WA is gaining and losing residents from
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New York City is at major risk of flooding that could leave 4.4 million people exposed to extreme damage, study finds
By Sophie Berdugo 04/24/26
Eight U.S. East Coast cities are at high or very high risk of "extreme" flood damage based on current scenarios, with New York and New Orleans facing some of the greatest dangers, a new study…
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El Niño’s Comeback Is Bad News for Climate Politics
By Jeva Lange 04/23/26
You may have heard that we could be in for a "super" or even a "super duper" El Nino this year.
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What a 5,000-mile-long marine heat wave means for summer in the U.S.
By Ben Noll 04/22/26
A massive ocean hot spot is stretching across a 5,000-mile swath of the Pacific — from Micronesia to the coastal waters of California. Across this zone, waters are as much as 6 to 8 degrees…
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Intense storms in Illinois fueled at least 15 tornadoes last week and fed rivers that will crest starting Monday
By Adriana Perez and Christiana Freitag 04/19/26
Beginning a week ago, what the local National Weather Service office called “an incredibly active stretch of weather” — including record-breaking rainfall and large hail — culminated Friday with more than a dozen tornadoes across…
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More dangerous storms loom for the central US as parts of the region also grapple with historic flooding
By Briana Waxman and Others 04/17/26
A final round of widespread dangerous severe storms headed for the central US Friday could cause more destruction and bring more rain to parts of the Great Lakes already dealing with historic flooding.
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Giant Hail Terrorizes Northeast Ohio as Storm Smashes Cars and Homes
By Hollie Strano 04/17/26
Northeast Ohio residents stepped into summerlike warmth this week, then watched the sky turn violent as one of the season's most destructive storms tore across the region Wednesday afternoon and night, pelting communities with giant…
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Strongest El Niño in a century? What this rare phenomenon could bring.
By Ben Noll 04/06/26
The chances for a planet-warming super El Niño this year are rising, according to an updated model forecast issued Sunday. The latest ECMWF outlook indicates there’s a high chance for a supercharged version of the…
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What are triplet cyclones? This rare phenomenon could have global impacts.
By Ben Noll 04/03/26
A rare weather phenomenon could unfold in a remote part of the West Pacific Ocean starting this weekend, one that may have serious local impacts for some island nations and could have broader ripple effects…
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California Drought, Wildfire Risks Grow as Snow Falls Short
By Brian K Sullivan 04/01/26
California is heading into its dry season with just a fraction of the snow it typically has across its highest peaks at the end of its winter months, raising the prospects of drought across the…
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Historic March 14-16, 2026 Winter Storm
03/24/26
A historic, record-setting winter storm impacted northeast Wisconsin from Saturday evening, March 14, 2026, through Monday evening, March 16. A potent Colorado low deepened as it tracked from the central Plains toward Chicago and eventually…
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As Storms Pummel Hawaii, the Western U.S. Continues to Bake Amid Record-Breaking Heat Wave
By Kiley Price 03/24/26
Communities across the Western United States are in for another week of unusually high temperatures amid an ongoing and historic early-season heat wave. It has broken March temperature records in nearly 180 cities, including Phoenix,…
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Hawaii’s worst flooding in 20 years threatens dam, prompts evacuations, as more rain looms
By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Audrey McAvoy 03/20/26
Hawaii officials urged people in hard-hit areas to evacuate Saturday due to the state’s worst flooding in more than 20 years, after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm…
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Sprawling storm drops feet of snow, knocks out power with high winds and disrupts thousands of flights
By Mary Gilbert and Others 03/17/26
A sprawling, wind-driven multiday storm roared across the United States with severe thunderstorms to the south and blizzard conditions to the north, causing damage and disruptions along its path.
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March Has Always Been a Month of Weather Extremes. But This Is Ridiculous.
By Judson Jones and Eric Niiler 03/17/26
Why was it sunny and warm one morning in New York, only to be snowing by the afternoon? Why did the Great Lakes face tornadoes one day and blizzard conditions not long after? Why can’t…
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Pick your weather poison this week: Tornadoes, blizzard, record rain, wildfire, or summerlike heat
By Bob Henson and Jeff Masters 03/16/26
What seemed like a tense meteorological face-off all winter – between persistent blasts of snow and cold in the Eastern U.S. and unsettling warmth and dryness out West – has devolved into a no-punches-pulled weather…
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Powerful Winter Storm Disrupts Travel and Knocks Out Power in the Upper Midwest
By Johnny Diaz 03/15/26
A powerful snowstorm bringing blizzard-like conditions left flights canceled, closed at least one regional airport, disrupted drivers and knocked out power to thousands on Sunday in the Upper Midwest after bringing more than a foot…
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High risk for severe weather to erupt in the eastern US
By Elizabeth Danco 03/14/26
AccuWeather meteorologists are sounding the alarm for widespread severe risk stretching across the eastern United States into Monday night. States from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Florida will be in the path of potentially damaging…
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Chicago weather: Tornado, large hail sweep through Kankakee Tuesday amid severe thunderstorm warnings
By Madeline King and Laura Turbay 03/10/26
Ashlyn Villarreal was driving home from work selling cars in Kankakee Tuesday night when she saw a flash of lightning and “gumball”-size hail. Suddenly, the gumballs turned into softballs and the glass on her Mustang’s…
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A bonkers 37.9 inches of snow hit this Northeast city. How that happened.
By Ian Livingston and Ben Noll 02/25/26
A nearly incomprehensible amount of snow fell on Providence, much of Rhode Island and the surrounding region late Sunday through Monday. The city recorded 37.9 inches at T.F. Green International Airport, its official observation location.…
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Wintry mix arrives overnight as Long Islanders dig out
By Matthew Chayes 02/25/26
Long Island dug out Tuesday after a historic storm dumped as much as 30 inches of snow on parts of the region, with road crews and residents alike clearing roads or front yards and the…
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Many State Flood Maps Are Not Up to Date. Connecticut Is Trying to Fix That
By Leslie Kaufman and Prashant Gopal 02/25/26
Connecticut is taking an unusual step to confront a growing national problem: flood maps that lag reality. The state has launched a public climate-risk mapping tool where residents can see the estimated flood exposure of…
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Rainforests are rain-making machines worth tens of billions of dollars to farmers.
By Warren Cornwall 02/25/26
Tropical rainforests get that name because it rains a lot in these places. But they deserve it for another reason as well: They make rain.
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Blizzard of 2026: As it happened
By Newsday Staff 02/24/26
A major storm slammed Long Island, delivering a record-breaking amount of snow in some areas. Newsday’s reporters were out covering the impact and the aftermath. Watch this page for the latest school closings, snowfall totals,…
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AI Lost Out to Traditional Models in Forecasting NYC’s Blizzard
By Lauren Rosenthal 02/24/26
Two days before New York's biggest snowstorm in a decade began, forecasters were still unsure how much snow would fall. One traditional US model had consistently predicted a major hit, while newer artificial intelligence systems…
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Winter storm: Blizzard hits Northeast with extreme weather, power outages, heavy snow
02/23/26
More than 40 million people remain under winter alerts, and blizzard warnings stretch more than 600 miles up the Eastern coast. More than 600,000 utility customers are without power across the Northeast.
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See the Storm’s Shape From Space
By Judson Jones 02/23/26
The National Weather Service is calling this a “classic bomb cyclone nor’easter,” and you don’t have to be standing outside in the Northeast to see why.
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How Snowstorms Can Trigger More Dangerous Flooding in New Jersey
By Rambo Talabong 02/23/26
New Jersey is among the states hit hardest by the blizzard that battered the Northeast Sunday and Monday, with two feet of snow or more and extremely high winds, causing flooding in coastal Atlantic City…
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NYC Isolated by Snowstorm as Thousands of Flights Canceled
By Brian K Sullivan and Others 02/22/26
A powerful winter storm has cut off New York City, grounding thousands of flights and straining transport networks, as 41 million people along the US East Coast brace for blizzard conditions in what could be…
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Weeks in the making: How a brittle snowpack primed the Sierra for disaster
By Grant Stringer and Ethan Baron 02/20/26
The conditions that led to California’s deadliest avalanche in modern history began forming weeks ago, when the high Sierra’s snowpack thawed and froze again and again into glass-like shards of ice.
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The West’s Winter Has Been a Slow-Moving Catastrophe
By Rebecca Boyle 02/18/26
If you are reading this on the East Coast, congratulations on the warmer weather you’re finally getting this week. It was cold and snowy for a while there. Here in the West, we wish we’d…
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Lake Erie’s Storm Surges Become More Extreme
By Jim Robbins 02/17/26
This winter’s bitter cold spell has turned Lake Erie into a glacial landscape, with the entire body of water almost completely frozen and mountains of blue-tinted ice up to 25 feet tall lining the shore.
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Wisconsin farmer says extreme weather is hurting his harvests
By Sarah Kennedy 02/05/26
Most years, Wisconsin farmer Josh Bryceson sells about 2,000 pounds of garlic. But increasingly extreme weather is making his harvest less reliable
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Why Driverless Cars Still Can’t Handle Snow
By Jeva Lange 02/04/26
If all the snow and ice over the past week has you fed up,you might consider moving to San Francisco,Los Angeles,Phoenix,Austin,or Atlanta.
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Ohio farmers face weather whiplash
By YCC Team 02/03/26
Last spring, many Ohio farmers struggled to plant their corn and soybeans because persistent rain made their fields too soggy to work.
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Snow Drought in the West Reaches Record Levels
By Jim Robbins 02/02/26
While record snowfall and single-digit temperatures pummel much of the United States, an extreme snow drought and unusually warm weather are keeping skiers off the mountains, snowmobilers off the trails and water out of the…
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US Ski Resorts Turn to Drones to Make It Snow Amid Dire Drought
By Kyle Stock 01/31/26
Despite a barren start to Colorado’s ski season, Winter Park Resort opened on Halloween and served up holiday powder.
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These 12 cities will be hit hard by a bomb cyclone this weekend
By Ben Noll 01/30/26
A powerful nor’easter will deliver a dangerous combination of heavy snow, frigid temperatures, strong winds and coastal flooding from the Southeast to New England this weekend.
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Groundwater Depletion At Crisis Levels Across American West
By Kristy Chan 01/29/26
Groundwater levels are the level of the water table below underground aquifers and are crucial to water security. In dry states like California, 40 percent of water is from groundwater; during droughts, this rises to…
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DOE expands use of emergency orders amid winter freeze
By Robert Walton 01/27/26
The snow and ice of Winter Storm Fern have passed, but utilities and grid operators are are still struggling to meet higher electric demand amid a prolonged cold snap in parts of the country. The…
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Odds Are Rising That Another Winter Storm Will Pummel US East Next Week
By Brian K Sullivan 01/27/26
The odds that another winter storm will pummel the US East Coast early next week are rising, putting power grids to the test again as the region recovers from a larger system that upended travel…
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Could another storm hit the East Coast soon? Here are the possibilities.
By Matthew Cappucci and Ben Noll 01/27/26
Right on the heels of a prolific snow and ice storm, another big snowstorm is brewing.This weekend, a powerful nor’easter is forecast to form near the East Coast, bringing the potential for significant snow, wind…
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Winter Is a Growing Threat to US Power Grids
By Lauren S Rosenthal and Naureen S Malik 01/27/26
US power grids usually face their biggest challenge running millions of air conditioners during brutal summer heat waves. But they’re increasingly at risk from bone-chilling winter weather.
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Deadly US winter storm leaves flights delayed and thousands without power
By Kayla Epstein 01/27/26
Several people have died in a winter storm that hit a wide swathe of the US, causing thousands of flights to be cancelled or delayed due to severe conditions.
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See how much snow fell — and where it broke records
By Niko Kommenda 01/27/26
Bringing widespread power outages and travel disruption from crippling ice, the winter storm that swept across the country this weekend left behind another mark: extraordinary snow totals.
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The Grid Survived the Storm. Now Comes the Cold.
By Jeva Lange and Matthew Zeitlin 01/26/26
Winter Storm Fern made the final stand of it's 2,300-mile arc across the United States on Monday as it finished dumping 17 inches of "light,fluffy"snow over parts of Maine.
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Power Grid for 67 Million on Edge as Dire Cold Follows Storm
By Naureen S Malik and Will Wade 01/26/26
A deep freeze is gripping the US in the wake of the worst storm so far this season, leaving the country’s biggest electric grid in emergency status and bracing for record wintertime demand.
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US Grids Face Off Against the Cold, Ice and Snow
By Lauren Rosenthal and Others 01/26/26
US power grids are under mounting pressure following a winter storm that blanketed the South and Mid-Atlantic with deep cold and heavy ice, driving up heating demand and raising the risk of blackouts.
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Sleet, ice, snow pelts central U.S., as country braces for ‘catastrophic impacts’
By Ben Noll and Others 01/25/26
The storm will migrate eastward Saturday, with steady snow developing across the Ohio Valley. It will reach the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast on Saturday night followed by the Northeast and New England on Sunday.
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1 million customers without power, with more ice expected to accumulate into Monday
By Ben Noll and Others 01/25/26
Dangerous icing across the Southeastern U.S. has left about 1 million customers without power as of Sunday evening — a problem that emergency agencies warned won’t go away just because the storm passes, with heavy…
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