Tag: Weather

  • Nation & World

    Weather warning

    A report co-authored by Professor Michael McElroy and D. James Baker, a former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, connects global climate change, extreme weather, and national security.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Not so wonderland

    Harvard Gazette photographer Rose Lincoln has captured a glimpse of Harvard during the region’s many recent snowstorms and blizzards.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Cyclones spurt water into the stratosphere, feeding global warming

    Scientists at Harvard University have found that tropical cyclones readily inject ice far into the stratosphere, possibly feeding global warming.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Disasters, and how to cope with them

    Nine out of 10 disasters in the world are related to climate change — the consequence of “a new normal of extreme weather,” said Sir John Holmes. He talked about an accelerating pace of floods, drought, heat waves, and catastrophic storms.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    FAS plan will slash greenhouse gas emissions

    Without action to slow the release of greenhouse gases, Harvard biologist and oceanographer James McCarthy said last week, current projections indicate that Massachusetts in 2080 could resemble South Carolina in 2008: The Bay State would experience an average of 24 days over 100 degrees each summer and two solid months of temperatures above 90.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Effects of climate change vary greatly across plant families

    Drawing on records dating back to the journals of Henry David Thoreau, scientists at Harvard University have found that different plant families near Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., have borne the effects of climate change in strikingly different ways. Some of the plant families hit hardest by global warming have included beloved species like lilies,…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Arctic ice is thinning steadily

    There was a polar bear sighting at Harvard last week. At Pforzheimer House on Thursday (Oct. 2), global warming expert James J. McCarthy delivered a crisp summary of how fast ice is melting in the Arctic — and why we should care. The audience of 80 took in his companion slide show, including images of…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Harvard Forest: 3,500 acres, global impact

    Harvard may be rooted in Cambridge, but it has a lot more roots in the small north-central Massachusetts town of Petersham. That’s where you’ll find the woods, streams, and fields of the Harvard Forest, a 3,500-acre research and teaching facility that’s been part of the University for more than a century. Having been closely monitored…

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Electric cars, ‘cap and trade,’ and more

    R. James Woolsey Jr., a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has a favorite personal strategy for ensuring U.S. domestic security: his Toyota Prius hybrid, upgraded with an A123 conversion kit that allows it to run largely on a battery rechargeable by house current.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Déjà vu marks Opening Exercises

    During the Saturday night (Sept. 6) downpour, brought on by tropical storm Hannah, a circuit breaker tripped, plunging Adams House into darkness. While Harvard electricians tracked down the problem, freshmen were sent over to the Science Center for food, movies, and an impromptu meeting with President Drew Faust.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Bonsai collection highlights age, beauty

    The foliage is green and youthful, but the twisted, gnarled trunks show the trees’ age. But that’s the point, of course.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Holdren talks back to skeptics of global warming

    “Global warming is a misnomer,” said John P. Holdren, speaking Tuesday night (Nov. 6) at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Kennedy School. “It implies something gradual, uniform, and benign. What we’re experiencing is none of these.”

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    ‘We are all teachers and we are all learners’

    The threat of thunderstorms on Sunday (Sept. 9) persuaded planners of the Opening Exercises for the Class of 2011 to move the event from the tree-shaded lawns of Tercentenary Theatre to the varnished vaults of Sanders. The venerable auditorium, Harvard’s largest indoor venue, was filled to capacity by the crowd of freshmen and their parents.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    National Weather Service calls Harvard ‘StormReady’

    Every year Harvard braces for a storm of applications. Now it’s ready — officially — for storms of the natural variety. In a brief ceremony July 20, federal officials certified Harvard as the first university in New England, and the first Ivy League school, to receive a “StormReady” designation from the National Weather Service (NWS).

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Students help the grass roots grow in New Orleans

    Statistics may cause some people to grow bleary-eyed, but not a group of New Orleans residents at a recent community meeting where they listened to Harvard students talk about post-Hurricane Katrina recovery rates in their neighborhood.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Collaboration yields first citywide network of wireless sensors

    Harvard University, BBN Technologies, and the city of Cambridge have begun a four-year project to install 100 wireless sensors atop streetlights in Cambridge, Mass., creating the world’s first citywide network of wireless sensors.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Call 496-NEWS for closings info

    The University operates the call-in number 496-NEWS for major School and University-wide closings due to inclement weather or other special circumstances affecting the Harvard campus.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Arctic hit by global warming first

    Scientists from the eight nations bordering the Arctic recently enlisted representatives of the region’s native peoples to help assess climate change there. What they found put a human face on a debate often involving distant projections and abstract numbers. Less snow, less sea ice, freezing rain in winter, and the appearance of mosquitoes and robins,…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Heat waves deadliest for blacks, diabetics

    Heat waves, like the one that scorched the country in July, are more deadly for some people than for others. Poor blacks and diabetics fare the worst. As you might guess, extreme heat is also hard on the elderly. But as you might not guess, extreme cold has a greater impact.

    4 minutes