ICN Florida - Inside Climate News

New Lake Okeechobee Plan Aims for More Water for the Everglades, Less Toxic Algae

By Amy Green — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Instead of prioritizing flood control above all else, the strategy is designed to balance all the needs of the watershed. “This plan marks a cultural shift on the part of the Army Corps of Engineers.”

By Amy Green

At the heart of the vast watershed that forms Florida’s fragile Everglades is Lake Okeechobee. A century ago the water of the state’s largest lake spilled effortlessly beyond its southern shore, flowing eventually into the sawgrass prairies of the river of grass.

NOAA Affirms Expectations for Extraordinarily Active Hurricane Season

By Amy Green — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The federal agency issued a slight revision down from its May forecast, which called for the most named storms the agency had ever predicted.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—Expectations for an extraordinarily active 2024 hurricane season remain essentially unchanged, after NOAA released its midseason forecast Thursday.

Debby Drenched the Southeast. Climate Change Is Making Storms Like This Even Wetter

By Amy Green, Lisa Sorg — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 09:05:00 +0000

Warming temperatures and increased water vapor are powering more intense downpours, like those associated with Debby.

By Amy Green, Lisa Sorg

Tropical Storm Debby, a plodding, waterlogged system that has already saturated four southeastern states, bears many characteristics of a warming planet, climate scientists say. It’s reminiscent of other catastrophic tropical cyclones that have battered the United States over the past eight years.

For Florida Corals, Unprecedented Marine Heat Prompts New Restoration Strategy—On Shore

By Amy Green — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 09:05:00 +0000

North America’s only barrier reef is withering from heat and disease. Can efforts to preserve and propagate the corals at land-based facilities save them?

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—Tucked away in an office park hundreds of miles from the southeast Florida coast where North America’s only barrier reef is at dire risk, a collection of brain corals performed a once-a-year feat—producing a constellation of egg sacks, each a bundle of hope.

In the South, Sea Level Rise Accelerates at Some of the Most Extreme Rates on Earth

By Amy Green — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

The surge is startling scientists, amplifying impacts such as hurricane storm surges and nuisance flooding and testing mitigation measures like the Resilient Florida program.

By Amy Green

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—For most of his life, Steve Salem has led an existence closely linked with the rise and fall of the tides.

US Prisons and Jails Exposed to an Increasing Number of Hazardous Heat Days, Study Says

By Sarah Hopkins — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Incarcerated people in southern states had the greatest exposure to extreme temperatures, yet do not have access to universal air conditioning, researchers found.

By Sarah Hopkins

Marci Simmons thinks back to her days in a Texas state prison as a cruel game of psychological planning for the summer. “In April, you start preparing yourself for the heat,” she said. “Towards the end of May, when it starts to get hot, you start telling yourself, ‘OK, it’s only four months of this really bad heat.’ And then you kind of count down in your mind. It’s a mental game of survival.”

Billions of Gallons of Freshwater Are Dumped at Florida’s Coasts. Environmentalists Want That Water in the Everglades

By Amy Green — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Environmental groups want to use engineered wetlands to help replenish the river of grass and address toxic algae. The state’s politically powerful sugar growers say those wetlands are for their own polluted water.

By Amy Green

Scattered between the vast sugar cane and vegetable fields of Florida’s heartland and the fragile marshes of the Everglades are a series of wetlands, resembling nature but hardly natural, that together represent the largest experiment of its kind in the world.

New Law to Provide Florida Homebuyers With More Transparency on Flood History

By Amy Green — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 09:05:00 +0000

The measure is aimed at educating buyers about the intensifying risks, although there are loopholes.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—For the first time, Florida home sellers will have to disclose certain aspects of a property’s flood history, under legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law this week.

NOAA 2024 Hurricane Forecast Is for More Storms Than Ever Before

By Amy Green — Fri, 24 May 2024 20:44:10 +0000

The unprecedented prediction is based most notably on near-record sea surface temperatures, which are as warm now as they normally are in August.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—Get ready for an active hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting the greatest number of named storms this hurricane season since the forecasts began in 1998.

Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Wins DeSantis’ Approval

By Amy Green — Tue, 14 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The governor had vowed, as a former presidential candidate, to replace the words “climate change” with “energy dominance” in national security and foreign policy guidance,

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—Addressing the human-caused emissions warming the global climate and contributing to impacts here like hotter temperatures, rising seas and more damaging hurricanes could no longer be part of Florida’s energy policy, under legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Wednesday.