"At least five people died as a powerful and extremely unusual storm system swept across the Great Plains and Midwest amid unseasonably warm temperatures, spawning hurricane-force winds and possible tornadoes in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota."
"High winds and tornadoes ripped off roofs, knocked down trees and power lines and led to hazardous travel conditions in parts of the Plains and upper Midwest Tuesday."
"Water leaders in Arizona, Nevada and California signed an agreement Wednesday to voluntarily reduce their take from the Colorado River to help stave off mandatory cuts in the upcoming years."
"A push by Senate Democrats to pass a roughly $2 trillion tax-and-spending measure before Christmas appeared in dire political peril Wednesday, as talks soured between President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over the size and scope of the economic package."
"New York is set to become the nation’s largest city to enact a ban on gas heat and stoves in new buildings. It’s a major step away from fossil fuels that is expected to influence wider markets."
"Coal companies and Republican-led states yesterday called on the Supreme Court to constrain EPA from going as far as the Obama administration did when it crafted a systemwide approach to curb carbon emissions from existing power plants."
"The immense and forbidding Southern Ocean is famous for howling gales and devilish swells that have tested mariners for centuries. But its true strength lies beneath the waves." "Wilder winds are altering currents. The sea is releasing carbon dioxide. Ice is melting from below."
"Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is ramping up the pressure to finish his party’s climate and social spending bill by Christmas, but it looks like an increasingly difficult task given continued concerns from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and the lengthy process of clearing the legislation with the Senate parliamentarian."
"Scientists have been able to draw links between a warming planet and hurricanes, heat waves and droughts, attributing the likelihood that climate change played a role in individual isolated events. The same can’t be said for tornadoes yet."
"The changes happening at the top of the planet could unfold elsewhere in the years to come, scientists report." "Across the icy dome that crowns the Earth, rising temperatures are turning the tundra greener and more lush. Beavers are expanding their range. Garbage from passing ships is fouling the shores. Wildfires are scorching the once permanently frozen lands of Siberia."
