Hurricane Helene dumped enough water to fill Lake Tahoe

Storm surges, not winds, are the leading cause of hurricane-related fatalities

A storm surge is an abnormal rise in water levels generated by a storm that exceeds predicted tides. It is particularly dangerous in coastal regions, where it can generate extreme flooding well before the hurricane makes landfall.

Hurricanes may kill 300 times more people than officially reported

A recent study suggests that, since 1930, more than 3.5 million people have died due to hurricanes. This incorporates the long-term effects of storms on people's health and economic well-being, contributing to thousands of premature deaths each year.

As of 2025, the world's largest tropical cyclone spanned half the continental US

Typhoon Tip traveled across the western Pacific Ocean in 1979, achieving winds of 300 kilometers per hour. Though it weakened significantly before making landfall in Japan, its rainfall produced over 600 mudslides and killed 42 people.

Side-by-side shots of once-dry California lakes now filled

In late 2022, much of California was in drought; by early 2023, after a series of downpours from atmospheric rivers, much of the state's reservoirs had been re-filled. See the dramatic difference in this series of photos.

Visualizing the multibillion dollar cost of US weather disasters

The US has sustained 332 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1B (including CPI adjustment to 2022). The total cost of these 332 events exceeds $2.275T.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of severe turbulence

Severe turbulence over the North Atlantic has increased by 55% over the past 40 years, driven by strengthened jet streams and storm systems. Ongoing increases in global temperatures, which fuel these changes, may triple severe turbulence incidents in the coming decades.

Rapid intensification can cause hurricanes to increase by two categories in 24 hours

Rapid intensification is a 35 mph or more increase in a hurricane's sustained wind speed within 24 hours. The phenomenon is expected to become more common, resulting in more storms becoming life-threatening faster than people can modify their preparations for the increased intensity.

Check out hurricane history where you live

The NOAA's historical hurricane tracker lets you explore over 150 years of data to see where hurricanes traveled and made landfall. The tool lets you search by location, name, or year; create maps and tables; and read NOAA storm reports.

The Great Lakes hold almost 20% of the world's surface freshwater

Formed by retreating glaciers, the Great Lakes system feeds Niagara Falls through the Niagara River. Together, the lakes contain about 23 quadrillion liters (5,400 cubic miles) of water, enough to cover the land portion of the continental US to a depth of 3 meters (9.84 feet).

An image of a shark swimming on the freeway repeatedly fools viewers during natural disasters

The long-running joke traces back to 2011, following Hurricane Irene in Puerto Rico. Since then, pranksters have spread the image after Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and Hurricane Laura in 2020. The image is photo-edited, combining a 2005 photo of a kayaker being followed by a great white shark and a photo of a flooded street.

How flooding the Dead Sea could help the climate

There are many dead zones in the world with low elevation and very little rainfall that provide little to no benefits to the ecosystem or climate. This digestible, thorough article explains how piping in nearby water to flood these areas could...

Learn all about different types of extreme weather

Find out in more detail about different types of extreme weather, from flooding to thunderstorms, from tropical cyclones to sandstorms, and more (w/ helpful videos).

Hail forms in freezing temperatures thousands of feet above the ground

Even if surface temperatures are well above freezing during the summer, updrafts during thunderstorms can push raindrops high into the atmosphere, where they can freeze and form hail. Giant hailstones the size of softballs require updrafts of close to 100 mph.

Explore and visualize AI-driven global flood forecasts in 'Flood Hub'

Google's tool provides water trends, real-time flood forecasts, local inundation maps, and flood alerts, using AI models and available data to help people and institutions take action up to 7 days before a flood.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

The 1975 sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald spurred a number of maritime changes

One of the worst Great Lakes shipwrecks in modern history, the freighter sank during an intense storm on Lake Superior that reportedly produced 50-foot waves. The exact cause remains unknown, and the disaster remains in public consciousness today.

The Pacific Northwest's last 'really big one'

More than 300 years ago, a shift in the Cascadia subduction zone caused the seafloor near the Pacific Northwest coast to drop by three to six feet. The force generated a massive tsunami that traveled across the Pacific and devastated Japan.

NOAA's interactive sea level rise viewer

How will rising seas affect you? Launch NOAA's sea level rise viewer and zoom in on impacts to different parts of the United States, or type in your city or address to learn more.

Watch a North Carolina house collapse into the ocean

While the Outer Banks experiences beach erosion, rip currents and overwash from a nor’easter along the coast, a seaside house in Rodanthe collapsed Tuesday.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Hydroplaning occurs when a vehicle's tires lose traction on wet roads

Water depth must be over 0.1 inches, and vehicle speed must exceed 50 mph for hydroplaning to occur. Tire wear, size, and tread patterns affect the likelihood of hydroplaning, which is more common for all-wheel drive vehicles.

The day the dinosaurs died

Roughly 66 million years ago, a giant meteor struck Earth off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Some dinosaurs died in the immediate impact, which sent a 200-foot tsunami all the way up to what is now North Dakota. Many others perished in the resulting change in climate, with debris ejected into the global atmosphere. This 12-minute video provides an overview of what scientists have uncovered about the fateful day.

A letter about a hurricane helped launch Hamilton's life in America

After a hurricane severely damaged the Caribbean island of St. Croix, Alexander Hamilton wrote a vivid letter that was later published and impressed local business leaders, who took up a collection to send the teenager to North America for schooling.

The Love Canal disaster exposed the dangers of buried toxic waste

In the late 1970s, residents of Niagara Falls, New York, discovered their neighborhood was built atop 20,000 tons of chemical waste. Leaking toxins caused illness and birth defects, sparking nationwide outrage and leading to the creation of the EPA's Superfund cleanup program in 1980.

How is climate change reshaping the Great Northern Wilderness?

This article focuses on how climate change is drastically altering Kluane National Park in Canada and nearby areas in Alaska. Glaciers are struggling: One large glacier is melting so fast that it has redirected a river's flow, a phenomenon that...

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

1 in 4 people around the world don't have access to clean water

Poor water sanitation puts people at risk of acquiring this diarrheal infection. Cholera infections are on the rise due to extreme weather events and conflict. In recent years there have been cholera outbreaks in locations that hadn't seen the disease in many years, including Haiti.

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

Poison ivy will likely become both larger and more resilient due to climate change.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.