Hurricane Helene set up future disasters, from landslides to flooding – cascading hazards like these are now upending risk models

Risk models can’t rely just on the past anymore. A team of geoscientists suggests new ways to forecast evolving hazards in real time as cascading disaster risk worsens.

Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University • conversation
June 26, 2025 ~7 min

Natural disasters don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve

Risk models can’t rely just on the past anymore. A team of geoscientists suggest new ways to forecast evolving hazards in real time as cascading disaster risk worsens.

Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University • conversation
June 26, 2025 ~7 min


Natural hazards don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve

Risk models can’t rely just on the past anymore. A team of geoscientists suggest new ways to forecast evolving hazards in real time as cascading disaster risk worsens.

Brian J. Yanites, Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Professor of Surficial and Sedimentary Geology, Indiana University • conversation
June 26, 2025 ~7 min

How restoring river catchments can minimise drought and flood risks

Natural infrastructure can be restored in ways that reduce both flood risk and the effects of drought.

Neil Macdonald, Senior Lecturer in Risk, University of Liverpool • conversation
June 24, 2025 ~8 min

The atmosphere is getting thirstier and it’s making droughts worse – new study

A new study shows that rising ‘atmospheric thirst’ is responsible for about 40% of the increase in drought severity over the last four decades.

Solomon Gebrechorkos, Reserach Fellow in Climate Change Attribution, University of Oxford • conversation
June 4, 2025 ~6 min

Trees ‘remember’ wetter times − never having known abundant rain could buffer today’s young forests against climate change

Water availability regulates tree growth and can have ‘legacy effects’ long after conditions change.

Marcus Schaub, Group Leader, Forest Dynamics and Ecophysiology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) • conversation
Jan. 9, 2025 ~11 min

Relentless warming is driving the water cycle to new extremes, the 2024 global water report shows

From dried-up rivers to flooded crops and cities, rising temperatures in 2024 wreaked havoc with water, creating life-threatening challenges for people and nature alike. Explore this interactive map.

Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University • conversation
Jan. 5, 2025 ~7 min

When an atmospheric river meets a bomb cyclone, it’s like a fire hose flailing out of control along the West Coast

A powerful storm hitting the West Coast combines these phenomena for a wet week of erratic weather, as a meteorologist explains.

Chad Hecht, Research and Operations Meteorologist, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, University of California, San Diego • conversation
Nov. 20, 2024 ~8 min


Atmospheric river meets bomb cyclone: The result is like a fire hose flailing out of control

A powerful storm hitting the West Coast combines these weather phenomena for a wet week in many areas. But forecasting exactly which areas will get hit hardest is tough, as a meteorologist explains.

Chad Hecht, Research and Operations Meteorologist, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, University of California, San Diego • conversation
Nov. 20, 2024 ~8 min

Atmospheric rivers are shifting poleward, reshaping global weather patterns

These powerful ‘rivers in the sky’ provide a huge share of annual precipitation in many regions, including California. They can also melt sea ice, with global climate implications.

Zhe Li, Postdoctoral Researcher in Earth System Science, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research • conversation
Oct. 11, 2024 ~8 min

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