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(CNN) - The 30 or so golf courses in the Salt Lake County of Utah drink up around nine million gallons of water a day to stay pristine green -- that's more than 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Managing the turf on golf courses also means using carbon-intensive fertilizers, plenty of mowing and, in many cases, clearing forests or trees that were soaking up carbon-dioxide to make way for long tracts of fairway. In other words, golf is a dirty sport that's wrecking the planet. But it doesn't have to be. The impact of golf on the climate and environment has...

Warmer-than-average conditions are most likely across the Southern tier of the U.S. and much of the Eastern U.S. with the greatest likelihood of above-average temperatures in the Southeast. Below-average temperatures are favored for southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest eastward to the northern Plains. The Upper Mississippi Valley and small areas of the Great Lakes have equal chances for below-, near- or above-average temperatures. ..wetter-than-average conditions are most likely in parts of the North, primarily in the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and western Alaska. Drier-than-average conditions are favored in south-central Alaska, southern California, the Southwest, and...

Hundreds of people in Egypt have been stung by scorpions in recent days and hospitals are stocking anti-venom to treat them, due to bad weather that's forced the creatures from their normal habitats and closer to humans. Government officials said more than 500 people have been stung over the past three days in southern Egypt. The governor of Aswan detailed the injuries in a Facebook post a few days ago. The inclement weather has included dust storms, heavy rains, hail and flooding. It has displaced the scorpions in their natural environments. The bad weather has also damaged mud-brick houses, uprooted...

My husband saw today what he swears was a ‘woolly bear’ caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) – but it had no brown band, it was all black. I suggested to him that it might be another species that looks similar, but he was adamant – he grew up in rural Central Pennsylvania, and this time of year they saw them all over the place, and he denies that its spines were anything like those of the Giant Leopard or any other one around these parts that we could find pictured. The legend is that the width of the brown bar on the...

The US faces triple weather threats as severe tornadoes, a nor’easter and a “bomb cyclone” loom large over the country during Halloween week. The US’ Pacific Northwestern states, including northern California, Washington and Oregon, have already been hit by the “bomb cyclone” that formed over the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, leading to a storm and heavy showers across the coast.

A so-called “atmospheric river” has drenched drought-stricken Northern California with several inches of rain and several feet of snow. Reports of rockslides, mudslides, and toppled trees were in abundance on Monday as National Weather Service forecasters continued to issue flood warnings and advisories for the central and northern parts of the state. Flooding was reported across the San Francisco Bay Area and overflowed rivers across Napa and Sonoma counties. The National Weather Service said that about 4 inches of rain fell in San Francisco. The California Highway Patrol, meanwhile, shut down part of State Route 70 in Butte and Plumas...

Damaging winds, hail, isolated tornados, and floods are threating to impact more than 50 million people from California to New York over the weekend and early into next week. The back-to-back bomb cyclones are forecasted to create atmospheric rivers. Atmospheric rivers are long narrow regions of moisture in the atmosphere 'like rivers in the sky' that release rain or snow to the earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A storm is considered a bomb cyclone when its minimum air pressure drops 24 millibars or more within 24 hours; this next storm could decrease by 50 millibars potentially...

With the winter months approaching, consumers may be forced to have to cut down on their holiday shopping as they prep for critical expenses such as heating their homes. And this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), paying for heat is going to take a sizable chunk out of some budgets. With higher propane prices and slightly colder temperatures this winter compared to years past, the EIA projects that U.S. households that primarily rely on heating with propane will spend nearly 50% more during this heating season. While the Northeast and the South will spend 47% and...

Viewers tuning in to hear a weather report got a bit of a shock after a news channel accidentally aired porn for 13 seconds. KREM, a local CBS-affiliated news outlet based in Spokane, Washington aired the explicit footage on Sunday during their 6pm broadcast. A weather update was being given by meteorologist Michelle Boss when the pornographic footage suddenly appeared on the screen behind her right shoulder. For 13 seconds, the video of what appeared to be a woman’s backside was on screen. It’s not clear whether Boss or her co-anchor Cody Proctor were aware of the clip - but...

Severe thunderstorms hit parts of Queensland, Australia on October 18 and 19, 2021, bringing heavy rain, giant hailstones, and tornadoes. The largest hail was reported in Bloomsbury and Yalboroo, north of Mackay in North Queensland on October 19. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Shane Kennedy said they've seen some convincing images of hail up against a tape measure of 16 cm (6.29 inches). The Australian record is around 14 cm (5.5 inches) mark, Kennedy said, adding that it looks like they have a new Australian record for hail.1 Hail that size has a terminal velocity of well over 100...

Yan Daixiang squinted through dense, freezing fog as she struggled to make out her surroundings. Runners were scattered everywhere—off the trail, in ravines, on the other side of the mountain—dotting the hillside in brightly colored athletic gear. It was hard to tell loose clothing and people apart. People trudged in every direction, struggling against freezing wind and rain. Others huddled around bushes or boulders. Some runners passed Yan, heading back down the mountain. They’d tried to reach the race’s third checkpoint at mile 17, but failed. They were retreating now, back to the second checkpoint, to drop out. “It’s way...

The Northern Hemisphere looks ready to transition into a La Niña winter in the next month, according to the latest outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center... La Niña is a climate pattern where winds that blow from east to west become stronger than normal, pushing warmer water towards Asia but upwelling colder water on the coast of the western United States. The colder waters in the Pacific end up affecting the atmosphere, pushing the jet stream further north. That southern tier includes Southern California, the southwestern states, Texas, and the Gulf Coast states through to...

As if relentless, fiscally-stimulated global demand for (made in China) products, coupled with soaring input prices, Covid-crippled indutries, production-throttling energy crises and containership parking lots off major ports wasn’t enough to cripple global supply chains, we can throw in one more factor that will make “just in time” deliveries a thing of the pre-Biden past and will ensure that nobody gets their presents this Christmas. The weather. A tropical storm that’s lashing southern China is causing a ship backlog from Shenzhen to Singapore, Bloomberg reports as it warn of even emptier store shelves come Christmas. Shipping data compiled by Bloomberg...

ORLANDO, Fla. - The tropics heated up overnight, as forecasters said that Tropical Storm Peter and Tropical Depression 17 formed. Tropical Storm Peter formed overnight over the open Atlantic, becoming the 16th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. They said that the storm is moving towards the northwest at about 15 mph. By Sunday afternoon, it is expected to turn back toward west-northwest. Peter should pass well to the north of the Leeward Islands on Monday and Tuesday.The tropical storm is said to be currently packing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph...

Trying to establish political dominance over weather is destined to invite tremendous skepticism. Back in 2006, three Mammoth Mountain ski patrollers suffocated when they fell into a crevasse. Cause of death was attributed to naturally occurring carbon-dioxide gas. Mammoth is a sleeping" volcano, and various gasses ooze out of it from vents that reach down into the bowels of the Earth. The local toxicity from the outgassing is such that trees have been eliminated from much of its higher surface, making it an ideal place for skiing. The CO2 output is estimated to be 1,200 tons per day. Lurking beneath...

A powerful typhoon is expected to impact Taiwan and China this weekend. It may strain global supply chains even further due to the possibility of port disruptions and other logistical issues that would stem from storm damage. Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said Typhoon Chanthu is north of the Philippines Friday as it closes in on Taiwan and the Chinese coast. In the path of the storm are major containerized ports and factories. The intensity of the storm is a significant concern. The storm is rated as a category four typhoon, one level below a super typhoon, with maximum sustained winds...

Tropical Storm Mindy has formed in the NE Gulf of Mexico Mash the graphics below to enlarge. All links and images are self-updating. GOES Satellite NHC Public Advisories NHC Discussions Tropical Tidbits by Levi Cowan FL Radar

....Pointing accusingly at climate change, President Joe Biden toured deadly flood damage in New Jersey and New York City Tuesday and said he was thinking about the all families who suffered “profound” losses.... Biden, like many, is arguing with increasing forcefulness that the threats from wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and other extreme weather must be dealt with in ways that will mitigate the ever-worsening impacts of climate change. “We can’t turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse," he said, adding that scientists have been warning for decades this day would come and merits urgent...

Joe Biden on tornadoes: ".they don't call them that anymore. Mumbles something about wetlands in Nevada

A tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to stay south of Louisiana and head for Florida, hurricane forecasters said Monday. However, it could still bring rain to Louisiana and the Gulf Coast toward the middle of the week. The heaviest rain is possible south of Interstate 10, according to the National Weather Service in Slidell. Forecasters said the additional rain would be problematic because much of southeast Louisiana is still soaked from Hurricane Ida, which hit as a Category 4 storm a week ago. Any more rain could lead to flash flooding and slow down cleanup and...