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Despite a bitter U.S. cold snap, the globe is rushing hell-bent toward its warmest year on record with last month setting the fifth monthly heat record of year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday that last month was the hottest October on record worldwide. "It is becoming pretty clear that 2014 will end up as the warmest year on record," said Deke Arndt, climate monitoring chief for NOAA. "The remaining question is: How much?" He said this year's heat is what scientists expect from man-made global warming. Scientists say the burning of coal, oil and gas traps heats,...

Extreme cold weather is gripping large parts of the United States, with temperatures of freezing or below recorded in many parts of the country. Four people have died as a result of the conditions in New York state and the bad weather has spread as far south as Alabama and Florida. Alpa Patel reports.

The Storm Glass was first invented in the mid 1700's, and soon made it's way into ships and harbors around Europe to help give warning of approaching bad weather. It gained the most fame through Admiral FitzRoy who used a Storm Glass on the voyage in which he and Darwin traveled to the Galápagos Islands. As such, the instrument is sometimes called a 'FitzRoy Storm Glass'. Due to the use of vodka rather than pure ethanol and water, the proportions I use to make the Storm Glass in my video breaks somewhat from the traditional ratios, but the recipe is...

Jo Bastardi discusses the weather.

DENVER — Denver shattered two low temperature records in a matter of hours when the mercury plummeted as skies cleared from the recent storm. The temperature reached minus 13 degrees just before midnight, breaking the record of minus 4 degrees set on Nov. 12, 1882. And just before 3 a.m. Thursday, the temperature reached minus 14 degrees, breaking the previous record low of minus-3 set on Nov. 13, 1916. The National Weather Service says Thursday’s mark ties for the second-coldest temperature at any point in November in recorded Denver history. An NWS observer reported a temperature of minus 24 degrees...

The Arctic chill is gripping the Rockies and Upper Midwest — and it’s crawling east. Sharp drops in temperature are expected in other parts of the U.S. in the coming days, thanks to a powerful weather system that hit Alaska with hurricane-force winds over the weekend before blanketing several state ins snow. CBS News reports that all 50 states will see freezing temperatures. A look at the system and its effects: ___ THE LINGERING COLD Dangerously cold weather was expected to linger until Thursday in eastern Montana, where temperatures could reach as low as negative 30 degrees. Denver’s high was...

An arctic storm system has some Coloradans shoveling out from under tumbleweeds rather than snow. Tumbleweeds piled up several feet high around houses and shops and along roads in and around Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Monday as the system moved from north to south across the state. Peggy Perales of the National Weather Service in Pueblo says winds gusted up to 60 mph as the storm moved in. That also kicked up blinding dust in the region, with the worst of it lasting for about an hour.

**SNIP** President Obama is playing golf today with a few of his usual crew of younger White House aides. It’s the 46th time he’s played this year and the 203rd of his presidency.

Vary long explanation of the "polar vortex" that will, supposedly, attack this coming week. Very interesting explanation. Things are not as some forecasters might portray it. It's still going to be ugly, possibly for Thanksgiving. Joe argues for more research for short term forcasting, because the current modeling isn't terribly accurate because of changes, maybe because of solar dimming. Maybe. But this is the problem; that there isn't enough research done for short-term forecasting. Case in point: The sudden crash of the Southern Oscillation index and its effect on the feedback of heat from energy released by convection activity is...

Alex Sosnowski November 5, 2014 The atmosphere is preparing to send part of the polar vortex southward toward the US next week with an outbreak of arctic air and lake-effect snow. The polar vortex is a large pocket of very cold air, typically the coldest air in the Northern Hemisphere, which sits over the polar region. Occasionally, this pocket of very cold air can get dislodged farther south than normal, leading to cold outbreaks in Canada and the US. The main blast of cold air associated with the plunging polar vortex will swing southeastward into the Central and Eastern states...

More on winter forecast and onset of limited El Nino.

Election Day Forecast: Rain May Factor Into Turnout in Central US Friday, October 31, 2014 18:21 ET By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist. While rain could deter voter turnout on Election Day in part of the Central states and the Northwest, dry weather is in store in the East and the balance of the West. Gubernatorial elections will be held on Nov. 4, 2014, in 36 states, along with elections for many other state and local government offices. Unsettled Swath From Texas to Western New York Rain is forecast to fall on areas from Texas to the lower Great Lakes...

In order to express her worries about our collective failure to act on the climate change threat, Harvard science historian Naomi Oreskes turned to science fiction. Her book, "The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View From the Future", is written from the point of view of a future historian who chronicles how humans ignored many clear warnings about the adverse effects of rising temperature, resulting in The Great Collapse of 2093. The details of that collapse include "floods, droughts, mass migrations, [and] the end of humanity in Africa and Australia." Oreskes began her efforts by chronicling the real scientific consensus...

It wasn’t long ago that coal executives were openly discussing their dream of Republicans seizing the White House and making Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe — who believes climate change is a “hoax” concocted by greedy scientists — the head of the EPA. Now, they have a second chance. As dark money groups and SuperPACs backed by millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry are propelling Republicans to a Senate majority, climate science-denying politicians are likely to seize control of key committee chairmanships, a coup for companies seeking to pollute the atmosphere with impunity. What’s more, Inhofe is slated to...

Final winter forecast.

September brought more record heat globally, and meteorologists say Earth is now on pace to tie for the hottest year ever recorded. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday that last month the globe averaged 60.3 degrees Fahrenheit. That was the hottest September in 135 years of record keeping. It was the fourth monthly record set this year, along with May, June and August.

Hurricanes and historical records, this year's El Nino. Factors Weatherbell is looking at on their way to predicting this year's winter.

Global climate models have underestimated the amount of CO2 being absorbed by plants, according to new research. Scientists say that between 1901 and 2010, living things absorbed 16% more of the gas than previously thought.

Joe's Saturday rant on global warming, Michael Mann, and near weather.

Fewer than half of American states are working to protect themselves from climate change, despite more detailed warnings from scientists that communities are already being damaged, according to a new online clearinghouse of states’ efforts compiled by the Georgetown Climate Center. Fourteen states have plans to prepare for the effects of climate change. California, New York and Maryland are among those that have made the greatest progress toward the dozens of goals their plans set forth, such as cutting statewide greenhouse gas emissions, improving infrastructure, securing water supplies, battling wildfires or coping with rising sea levels. Even those states have...