Articles by Seth Borenstein

Borenstein is AP Science Writer.

Hurricane Chief to Take Over as Weather Service Director

A meteorologist who oversaw warnings and forecasts during one of the busiest spurts of Atlantic hurricane activity on record will take over as the new director of the National Weather Service, as scientists expect extreme and dangerous storms and heatwaves …

Weather’s Unwanted Guest: Nasty La Nina Keeps Showing Up

Something weird is up with La Nina, the natural but potent weather event linked to more drought and wildfires in the western United States and more Atlantic hurricanes. It’s becoming the nation’s unwanted weather guest and meteorologists said the West’s …

Study Links Cleaner Air to More Atlantic Hurricanes

Cleaner air in United States and Europe is brewing more Atlantic hurricanes, a new U.S. government study found. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study links changes in regionalized air pollution across the globe to storm activity going both up …

U.S. Confronted With Deadly Billion Dollar Disasters as Carbon Emissions Soar

The United States staggered through a steady onslaught of deadly billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in an extra hot 2021, while the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions last year jumped 6% because of surges in coal and long-haul trucking, putting America …

New Research Warns Rare Winter Tornadoes May Get More Intense

Nasty winter tornadoes โ€” like the deadly ones last week that hit five states โ€” are likely to be stronger and stay on the ground longer with a wider swath of destruction in a warming world, a new study shows. …

Meteorologists Say Unusually Warm Weather Is Due to Stuck Jet Stream, La Nina

America’s winter wonderland is starting out this season as anything but traditional. The calendar says December but for much of the country temperatures beckon for sandals. Umbrellas, if not arks, are needed in the Pacific Northwest, while in the Rockies …

Weather Catastrophes Growing in Numbers and Damages But Taking Fewer Lives

Weather disasters are striking the world four to five times more often and causing seven times more damage than in the 1970s, the United Nations weather agency reports. But these disasters are killing far fewer people. In the 1970s and …

This Summer’s Extreme Weather Hitting World’s Wealthier Countries

As the world staggers through another summer of extreme weather, experts are noticing something different: 2021’s onslaught is hitting harder and in places that have been spared global warming’s wrath in the past. Wealthy countries such as the United States, …

National Weather Service Upgrades Forecast Model

The National Weather Service has turbocharged its lagging forecast model to better predict extreme weather events such as hurricanes, blizzards and downpours, as well as day-to-day weather. By including much higher layers of the atmosphere, increased factoring of ocean waves …

Riskiest Counties for Natural Disasters Are Not Always Where People Think

Spending her life in Los Angeles, Morgan Andersen knows natural disasters all too well. In college, an earthquake shook her home hard. Her grandfather was affected by recent wildfires in neighboring Orange County. “It’s just that constant reminder, `Oh yeah, …