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Air pollution from chemical plants made Hurricane Harvey worse

6 January 2021

Much of the devastating flooding caused by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas may have been triggered by aerosol pollution released from nearby petrochemical plants

We have recorded the biggest lightning flashes ever

26 June 2020

Satellites have detected two record-shattering lightning flashes: one that covered a distance of 709 kilometres, and one that lasted 16.7 seconds

Huge volcanic eruption in 2018 was triggered by torrential rains

22 April 2020

The eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano in 2018 was caused by heavy rains – suggesting that extreme weather from climate change could lead to more eruptions

We really can control the weather - but it may not be very useful

24 February 2020

Researchers have finally demonstrated that cloud seeding leads to a measurable increase in precipitation, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is worth doing

Unusual cyclones over past two years created Africa’s locust plague

1 February 2020

East Africa is being ravaged by vast swarms of desert locusts, which have taken advantage of ideal breeding conditions created by unusually heavy rainstorms

Climate change may mean heavy rain falls in the early morning

4 June 2019

Heavy rain and thunder normally comes in the late afternoon when heat from the sun has built up, but that could change later this century

Climate change will make it harder to predict heavy rain and floods

15 March 2019

In a warmer world, some aspects of weather forecasting will become easier, but figuring out when torrential rain and flash floods are coming will be harder

Rock layers show our sun has been in same cycle for 700 million years

13 August 2018

Our star gets more and less active in a repeating cycle that lasts 11 years, and ancient rocks suggest it behaved the same way over 700 million years ago