Houston's summer evenings are getting warmer
Why it matters: Higher overnight temperatures can have health consequences for vulnerable groups, as well as increased demand for air conditioning.
That, in turn, can increase energy demand and strain electrical grids, fueling a vicious cycle with more greenhouse gas emissions.
Driving the news: Average summer nighttime temperatures increased between 1970 and 2024 in 96% of 241 locations analyzed in a new report from Climate Central, a research and communications group.
Among cities with an increase, temperatures rose by 3.1 degrees on average.
Zoom in: Houston's overnight lows rose 5.8 degrees in that timeframe, according to the report.
Dallas' rose 5 degrees, Austin rose 3.1 degrees and San Antonio rose 3 degrees.
Between the lines: Hundreds of U.S. cities are experiencing more frequent warmer-than-average summer nights "with a strong climate change fingerprint," Climate Central says.
That's based on the group's "Climate Shift Index" — a method of measuring climate change's impact on local daily temperatures — and the 1991-2020 climate normals.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Weekend storms were rare, but they reflect the new rainfall extremes in Wisconsin
As Milwaukee-area residents pick up from the weekend's deluge, there's a common refrain: We've never seen anything like this before. While this storm may have been rare, intense rainfall events already have grown more common in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The reason has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with science. Human activities, like burning fossil fuels, are changing the climate. As our planet heats up, warmer air can hold more water vapor. For every one degree Fahrenheit of warming, the air can hold an extra 4% of moisture, according to the nonprofit climate science organization Climate Central. That means when weather conditions are right for a rainstorm, there's more moisture to let go. Emerging evidence also shows that a warmer climate produces slower-moving weather systems, said Wisconsin state climatologist Steve Vavrus. Winds in the upper atmosphere travel at slower speeds because of warmer arctic air, letting storms linger and dump more rain. In this case, the storm hovered over the Milwaukee area for hours Saturday night and Sunday morning before finally moving on. And while heavy rain doesn't always produce a flood risk, it's more likely in urban areas with concrete surfaces that can't soak up water, said Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central. On average, Wisconsin has become nearly 20% wetter since 1950, Vavrus said. That trend is more pronounced in the southern half of the state, including Milwaukee. More: Milwaukee area flooding: Flooding resources, FEMA aid, closures from severe weather in southeast Wisconsin More: Flood debris pickups, drop-offs and more resources for Milwaukee County and suburbs More: How to clean up a flooded basement and prevent mold after Milwaukee floods None of this is unique to Wisconsin. According to the Fifth National Climate Assessment published in 2023, the amount of precipitation falling on days with the heaviest downpours has increased by 45% across the Midwest. The 2010s were Wisconsin's wettest decade since record-keeping began around 1900. Between 2010 and 2019, the state experienced at least 21 "100-year" rainfall events, meaning a 1% chance of the event occurring in a given year. Milwaukee's weather records date back to 1871, Vavrus said, and since then there have only been 11 days where the city has seen more than four inches of rain. Seven of those have occurred in the past 30 years. The National Weather Service reports that some parts of Milwaukee received more than a foot of rain during this last weekend's storm, which would shatter the state's 24-hour rainfall record if verified. Vavrus also pointed back to the 2018 floods in Dane County, when torrential rains of more than 10 inches pummeled the area, killing a motorist and causing more than $150 million in damage. Both that storm and Milwaukee's recent one dumped "hurricane-like" rainfall amounts, he said. "If people's perceptions are that these extremes are getting more common," Vavrus said, "they're exactly right." It's a trend that scientists expect to continue if more effort isn't made to counter climate change. Madeline Heim covers health and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@ This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee, Wisconsin seeing more intense rains due to climate change Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
16 hours ago
- CNN
It's not the heat, it's the humidity: Here's what's behind this extremely sticky summer
Hot summers are nothing new for much of the United States, but the combination of heat and humidity has taken on a truly antagonistic role this year, pushing us closer to our melting points in an already uncomfortable season. Dew point temperatures – a measure of how much moisture is in the air – have soared to sauna-like highs over and over. It's another way a climate heating up from fossil fuel pollution is changing summer as we know it. A warm atmosphere soaks up water like a sponge, driving both air and dew point temperatures higher than they'd be in a cooler world. 'Summertime heat that's being boosted by climate change is now also getting this extra piece,' said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with the non-profit research group Climate Central. 'It's like a one-two punch.' For nearly half the country, this summer's duo of heat and humidity has been record-breaking so far: June through July marked the muggiest start to the season in more than 40 years, based on a CNN analysis. Here's what's behind this summer's especially soupy start. The eastern half of the US is typically home to the most muggy, humid conditions in the country, but this summer has been extreme. Through July, 22 states from the Mississippi Valley to the East Coast have notched their muggiest start to summer since 1981, when the dataset of dew point temperatures used for CNN's analysis began. It's been the second-most humid summer for the US as a whole in the same timeframe. Higher dew points mean there's more moisture in the air, and when there's more moisture in the air, it feels more humid. Dew point temperatures are always the same as or lower than the air temperature. A summer dew point of 70 degrees, for example, means the air feels pretty sticky and uncomfortable. Crank that closer to 80 degrees and the air feels thick, soupy and miserable. On the opposite end, a summertime dew point in the 40s or 50s can feel downright desert-like. Relentless summertime humidity is par for the course in many southern states like Mississippi and Alabama, thanks to their proximity to the warm, moist air over the Gulf, but the last two months have been far past the norm. Dew points have consistently been at least in the low 70s throughout this summer in much of the South. They climbed into the 80s multiple times during the late-July heat dome, pushing the heat index – how hot it actually feels – past 110 degrees at times. The Midwest is another notoriously humid region in the summer. In states like Iowa and Illinois, there's a surprising agricultural contributor: Corn. The crop covers much of the farmland in these states and 'corn sweat' can boost dew point temperatures all on its own. But this summer has so far been much more muggy than corn can influence single-handedly. Early summer conditions in the West were much more mixed. Nevada and Utah had one of the least humid starts to summer on record, cut off from most of the moisture flowing to areas farther east and anything heading inland from the Pacific Ocean. California was much more middle of the road. Even with its proximity to the Pacific, sea-surface temperatures closer to shore were cooler than normal for much of June and July. Colorado's dew points were also average as the state avoided the moisture onslaught that unfolded farther east. What's happening both in and over nearby oceans is to blame for this summer's excessive mugginess. Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf, the Caribbean and the Atlantic have been warmer than normal – and in some cases, much warmer – this summer. While temperatures aren't at the record-breaking levels that marked long stretches of 2023 and 2024, the fingerprints of climate change are still all over this summer's ocean heat. For example, hotter than normal sea surface temperatures in the Gulf and in the Atlantic off the Southeast coast last week were up to 500 times more likely because of climate change, according to Climate Central's Climate Shift Index, Winkley noted. The warmer oceans get, the more moisture evaporates into the atmosphere. A warmer atmosphere behaves like a sponge, soaking up and then transporting what moisture the ocean releases. Abnormally moist, hot air has been flowing north out of the tropics into almost all regions east of the Rockies all summer — and really for much of the year. It's tied to a semi-permanent area of high pressure that meanders over the Atlantic Ocean called the Bermuda or Azores high, Winkley explained. In the summer, the high generally parks over the western Atlantic and is perhaps best known for how it can steer Atlantic hurricanes toward the US – but that same mechanism also delivers tropical air. The Bermuda high was stronger than normal in June and was also significantly stronger compared to the same time in 2023 and 2024, according to data from Columbia University. In its stronger state, the high has sent frequent pushes of waterlogged air into the US that made dew points skyrocket and loaded the atmosphere with moisture to fuel flooding storms. Muggy, more humid air is driving up the heat index and that's a dangerous trend: When it's too humid, it's much harder to cool off naturally. Really humid heat cancels out the benefits of sweating and puts a much higher strain on the body. This leaves people – especially those without access to air conditioning – much more susceptible to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. High dew points also prevent air temperatures from dropping considerably overnight, keeping nights warmer than they should be. Nighttime air temperatures are already taking the hardest hit from climate change – warming faster than daytime highs – and when nights don't cool down enough to offer relief for overheated bodies, it's a compounding disaster. 'A lot of us are very lucky that we get to go from our air-conditioned home, to our air-conditioned car, to our air-conditioned workplace, but that's not everybody,' Winkley said.
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Yahoo
Map reveals best and worst places to live for natural disasters
Not all communities face disasters equally. Some are hit harder, recover slower, or are more vulnerable from the start. FEMA's Risk Map ranks every county and Census tract in the U.S. based on three key factors: how likely a natural disaster is, how socially vulnerable the population is, and how resilient the community might be in the aftermath. The map factors in a wide range of natural hazards, including hurricanes, floods, drought, winter storms, extreme heat and cold, lightning, high winds, earthquakes, avalanches, volcanic activity, and more. Worst places to live: California, Florida, and on the coast Looking at the county version of the map, the worst areas to live are California, Florida, or anywhere on the U.S. coast, with a few exceptions. Most of Texas is moderate to high risk, but there are some pockets of low risk. The same goes for Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. Switching to the Census tract view, which divides cities into many individual tracts, tells the story that most areas still have a mixed risk, with some areas safer than others. Best places to live: New England and Ohio Although West Virginia and Wyoming have no counties in a moderate or higher risk index, these states don't look as good when using the Census tract view. Through that lens, most areas west of the Mississippi are mixed, but much of the Northeast quadrant of the country is lower risk, with exceptions on the coast and in some of the mountains. Vermont is the state with the smallest number of tracts in relatively low or low risk, and none are considered moderate. Rhode Island, mainly because of its size, is another relatively low-risk state, with no moderate risk tracts. New Hampshire only had one moderate risk, and Ohio only had two. Massachusetts is mostly low risk, with a few moderate places, if you exclude Martha's Vineyard, which was high risk. While most cities have some areas of risk, Pittsburgh is the lowest-risk major city, with only very low and relatively low risks in the metro area. Charlotte, North Carolina, also has no tracts with moderate or higher risk. Climate change is making disasters worse, more common Billion-dollar disasters are becoming more frequent due to climate change, according to Climate Central. In 2024, there was less than two weeks between disasters, compared to nearly two months in 1981. Risk map may miss recent disasters, other info Remember, this is a long-term index and takes into account all FEMA disaster declarations in history. It doesn't deduct points for, or may not even include, the most recent disasters, such as Hurricane Helene or the Texas floods. Counties affected by those two recent disasters had few disasters in the past and are still listed as low risk. This risk index also doesn't directly take power outages into account, or non-disaster data like crime, home prices, or gas prices. You can use the map to focus on specific types of disasters which is helpful if you're more concerned about certain threats than others. If you're thinking about relocating, compare the risk where you live now to potential new areas by zooming in and exploring the map. Solve the daily Crossword
