News & Features

Although most drifting buoys start their journeys with a crude send-off—usually heaved into the ocean from the stern of a moving ship—NOAA oceanographer Rick Lumpkin describes today's drifter as "a high-tech message in a bottle."  Insignificant on their own, but an army of drifters 1,000 strong patrols the world's oceans and records key data for climate monitoring and research.

April showers and cool temperatures brought drought relief to many areas across the United States, but  conditions worsened in the Southwest. 

On any given day or any given month, somebody somewhere– maybe even where you live– experiences colder-than-average temperature, even though the globe as a whole is warmer than average.

While Mother Nature was still giving the United States the cold shoulder during March, many other areas across the world experienced higher-than-average monthly temperatures according to the latest st ...

Much colder-than-average temperature during March and a strongly negative Arctic Oscillation Index reminded people in the United States how important this index is to our own climate conditions.

Looking at the temperature maps for March 2013, you might think that Old Man Winter over stayed his welcome or that Mother Nature was trying to make up for last March's record-breaking heat. Much of t ...

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center released its Spring Outlook on March 21. The big story for the upcoming spring? Relief for many drought-stricken areas of the United States is not likely.

Every year, 25-35 square miles of land off the coast of Louisiana—an area larger than Manhattan–disappears into the water due to a combination of subsidence (soil settling) and global sea level rise. Toggle these maps back and forth to see how much land has been lost to the Gulf of Mexico in the past 80 years.

During March 2013, most of the eastern United States was notably cooler than average, with the exception of New England. Along the Rockies, temperatures were closer to normal.

The Spring Outlook encompasses temperature, precipitation, drought, and flooding expectations for the coming three months, and Mike Halpert, Acting Director of the Climate Prediction Center, discusses the outlook and its implications.