US farms could suffer as the arctic heats up.

Planet earth IS getting hotter. One of the more confusing aspects of this global trend is the persistent, undeniable discomfort of winter. Even more confusing is when that chilly weather continues into April, May, or godforbidpleasenot June.

U.S. farms could suffer as Artic heats up.

This might clear the confusion (but probably not the frustration): Those colder temperatures in the first half of the year might be due to warmer weather in the Arctic. Authors of a new study, published Monday in Nature Geoscience, found this trend looking at over 100 years of climate data from the Arctic and North America. This warm Arctic/cold North America connection has been particularly noticeable since 1990. And that doesn't just mean you'll be wearing a puffy jacket to Memorial Day cookouts from now on. Spring is an important time for agriculture, and the authors noted that US crop productivity declined by as much as 4 percent following warm Arctic years. Plus, those crops, along every other plant affected by the connected weather cycles, absorb less CO2—Arctic warming begets the potential for even more warming.

Read Nick Stockton’s story on Wired - “US farms could suffer as the arctic heats up.”

Concurrent heat waves, air pollution exacerbate negative health effects of each

The combination of prolonged hot spells with poor air quality greatly compounds the negative effects of each and can pose a major risk to human health, according to new research from the University of California, Irvine.

A heat wave and pollution episode struck the
 eastern portion of the United States and Canada
 in late June of 2005. Observations show
 the concurrence of high surface ozone, an
abundance of fine particulate matter
and scorching temperatures.

"The weather factors that drive heat waves also contribute to intensified surface ozone and air pollution episodes," said UCI professor of Earth system science Michael J. Prather, co-author of the study, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "These extreme, multiday events tend to cluster and overlap, worsening the health impacts beyond the sum of their individual effects.”

Heat waves cause widespread discomfort and can be deadly for vulnerable individuals, while surface ozone and air pollution are linked to premature death from heart disease, stroke and lung ailments.

Read the ScienceDaily story- “Concurrent heat waves, air pollution exacerbate negative health effects of each.”