Explore four ways climate change may affect Florida in 2025
Florida faces growing challenges from climate change.
Rising sea levels are speeding up, with Miami expected to see about two feet of sea level rise by 2060 and as many as 23,000 people at risk for coastal flooding by 2050. Extreme weather like hurricanes and torrential rain is already damaging homes and raising costs for farmers, which means higher restaurant prices and food shortages.
Programs like Miami Beach's "Fight the Flood Property Adaptation" are helping residents install flood barriers or raise their homes, but there are barriers like high property costs and delays. Cities are also using updated flood predictions to plan for new developments, knowing that building resilience and reducing emissions will be key steps moving forward.
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories below were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
Chefs Val and Nando Chang at the counter of the original Itamae at the former St. Roch Market (now MIA Market), where they opened in 2018. Val Chang hosted the James Beard Foundation at her restaurant, Maty's, on Jan. 22 to discuss how climate change is disrupting the restaurant and farming industries. By MATIAS J. OCNER
NO. 1: RISING PRICES ON SOUTH FLORIDA MENUS? RISING COSTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE CONTRIBUTE
'Climate change has a direct impact on the supply chain that your favorite chefs depend on.' | Published January 24, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ashley Miznazi
No children were playing on the dinosaur or pony ride at the Little River Pocket Mini Park Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 9, 2021, after the park was flooded with King Tide waters. This type of flooding could be much more common in the future as sea levels rise. By Emily Michot
NO. 2: WE ANSWER YOUR CLIMATE QUESTIONS: HOW MUCH SEA LEVEL RISE IS MIAMI EXPECTING?
Exactly how high will the tide rise? Scientists have a prediction. | Published April 1, 2025 | Read Full Story by Alex Harris
A resident walks with her belongings through the flooded N 15th St in North Tampa, on Thursday, October 10, 2024, a day after Hurricane Milton crossed Florida's Gulf Coast. By Pedro Portal
NO. 3: FLORIDA MOST AT RISK OF 'SEVERE COASTAL FLOODING.' NEW RESEARCH SHOWS WHERE
'This is a level of exposure that's going to require a massive amount of planning and investment in coastal resilience.' | Published April 2, 2025 | Read Full Story by Denise Hruby
Victor Corone, 66, pushes his wife Maria Diaz, 64, in a wheelchair through more than a foot of flood water on 84th street in Miami Beach on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. Diaz had a doctor's appointment, and they had to ditch the car in the parking lot on Collins Ave and walk more than 20 minutes to get home. By Photograph by Al Diaz
NO. 4: HOW TO GET MONEY TO PROTECT YOUR HOME FROM FLOODING IN MIAMI BEACH
'We want to do incremental adaptation, you know, things that we can build upon over time, and things that are going to stand the test of time' | Published April 4, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ashley Miznazi
This report was produced with the help of AI tools, which summarized previous stories reported and written by McClatchy journalists. It was edited by journalists in our News division.
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Scientific American
an hour ago
- Scientific American
How to Decode a Hurricane Forecast
If you've ever taken even a cursory glance at a hurricane forecast, you've seen some version of the 'cone of uncertainty.' It sounds like some other-dimensional realm of indecision, but it's a mainstay for communicating hurricane forecasts. Though these maps pack in plenty of valuable information, it can be a bit tricky to interpret them if you don't know exactly what you're looking at. Here Scientific American walks you through all the forecast components and what they mean—and, almost as crucially, what they don't. We also point you to some other resources that are often the most helpful for those staring down an approaching storm. NHC Forecast On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Above is an example of what you might see if you visit the National Hurricane Center's (NHC's) website during a storm in progress—in this case it's an archived forecast from 2024's Hurricane Milton. Various broadcasters, news sites and other groups that cover the weather often have their own versions of this map. There's a lot happening here, so let's break things down piece by piece. Timeline First off, because the cone-of-uncertainty graphic is a depiction of a forecast, it's looking into the future. Each update to the map shows the storm's current location, then roughly where the center of the storm will be over the next three to five days (depending on which version you are looking at). Cone of Uncertainty This is the centerpiece of the graphic—the actual cone of uncertainty—so called because it is an indicator of the possible error range in that forecast of where a tropical storm or hurricane is headed. The first key point in understanding the cone is that the error isn't based on the specific storm forecast; rather, it's an average of the overall forecast error over the past five years. So the more forecasts improve, the narrower the cone gets. The cone gets its shape because 'the uncertainty increases with time,' says Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. It's easier to forecast the near future than several days out. And because the error is based on that long-term forecast average, 'you get the exact same cone all year long for every storm,' McNoldy says. It can appear different—for example, more squat or elongated—because of how fast or slow the storm is going. The cone is meant to encompass where a storm actually goes two thirds of the time, so 'the cone is designed to fail one third of the time,' says James Franklin, former chief of the NHC's Hurricane Specialist Unit. So two thirds of the time, the storm will follow some path within the cone, but about one third of the time, its center will venture outside of the cone as the storm progresses. This is one reason why you never want to assume that because you're just outside of the cone, you're in the clear. The other reason is that the cone only tracks the path of the storm's center —it does not mean the storm's impacts are limited to the area of the cone. 'It isn't accounting for how big the storm is,' or if a storm's winds and rains are concentrated on one side, says Kim Wood, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Arizona. 'It really makes no sense to look at the cone, see that you're outside of it and then ignore everything else,' Franklin says. Storm Strength The map also includes the expected form of the storm at various points in the future, which are denoted with black or white circles and letters. The letters show whether a storm will be a tropical depression (D), tropical storm (S), hurricane (H) or major hurricane (M). (A major hurricane is a Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale.) A black circle means the storm is a tropical cyclone, or one that derives its strength from heat-driven convection at its core. A white circle denotes a potential tropical cyclone (one that could become a tropical cyclone) or a former one—often a storm that is now extratropical, meaning it is driven more by a temperature difference across a weather front than by convection. There are also color-coded indicators of hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings. But these indicators are only based on a storm's wind speeds—they don't suggest anything about potential storm surge, rainfall or tornadoes, all of which can be threats from tropical cyclones. Another Way NHC forecasts—including the cone of uncertainty graphic—are useful, but they are intended mostly for other meteorologists and emergency managers that use that information to make more detailed local forecasts and decisions about where people should evacuate or position supplies. 'The NHC is not issuing information for a person,' Wood says. Some researchers have explored making versions of the cone that are more useful for communicating threats. A 2019 study found that people estimated more damage from a hurricane when a forecast track went over a location than when it didn't. The researchers suggested that forecasts should show more hurricane paths to convey the uncertainty in where a hurricane would go. The graphic above is an example of such a visualization. It shows that the forecast is more certain in the near future and that paths at the outside of the cone are less likely than those at the center—but still possible. The cone graphic as it exists now can still be useful when looking out four or more days before a storm might arrive to get a general sense of where it is now and where it is going—for example, if a storm in the Gulf of Mexico looks likely to curve into Florida, people in New Orleans may not need to be as alert. 'It can be a decent starting point in just getting oriented into what the threat might be,' Franklin says. 'It's a good place to start, but you don't want to stop there.' Other Sources of Hurricane Information So where should you go for more useful hurricane information? Paying attention to a trusted local weather source, such as your local National Weather Service office, is generally the best bet for keeping up with impacts specific to your area and what steps need to be taken, such as whether to evacuate. The NHC also has maps that show when tropical-storm- and hurricane-force winds are likely to arrive at given locations and detailed maps showing expected storm surge levels. Much of this information is pulled together on the National Weather Service's Hurricane Threats and Impacts Tool, as well. This interactive map overlays the cone of a storm on top of wind, tornado, storm surge and rain threat information. You can click a given location and it will tell you what hazards you need to be concerned about. One of the most important things to remember no matter what forecast you're looking at is that forecasts change. Small variations in the storm itself or the larger atmospheric patterns can shift a storm's path or intensity. Human brains can naturally fall prey to the 'anchoring effect'—we can become mentally rooted in one specific forecast and base our decisions on it rather than updating our thinking as conditions change. Maybe there's a particularly ominous forecast or a particularly good one for your location, 'and then you don't keep looking for updates,' McNoldy says. But checking for updates is crucial to get ready for the coming storm.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Hurricane Erin remains Category 3 as track shifts south; new system on Erin's tail
Hurricane Erin, after strengthening into a Category 5 storm early Saturday, weakened to Category 3 by Sunday morning and has taken a track slightly more south than originally forecast, the National Hurricane Center said. Meanwhile forecasters are tracking another possible system close on Erin's heels that could develop near the Caribbean this week. Despite recent wobbling, Hurricane Erin is still on a track to turn away from the U.S. East Coast over the next few days. As of 11 a.m. Sunday, Erin was about 200 miles north-northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph. It was moving west-northwest at 14 mph. Erin's forecast track will take it to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas, and it will be several hundred miles off the coast of North Carolina by late in the week. Beachgoers along the U.S. coast from South Florida to Virginia are being warned of life-threatening rip currents this week as Erin passes to the east. 'While the threat of direct impacts in the Bahamas and along the east coast of the United States appears to be gradually decreasing, there will still be a significant risk of dangerous surf and rip currents along western Atlantic beaches next week,' the hurricane center said. NOAA Hurricane Hunters found maximum sustained winds had increased to nearly 160 mph during a pass through the storm just after 11 a.m. Saturday morning, making it a Category 5 hurricane. The storm joins last year's Hurricane Milton as one of the fastest-intensifying Atlantic hurricanes. Like Erin, Milton also went from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in around 24 hours before making landfall as a Category 3 in Siesta Key in October. Erin's arrival earlier in the season makes it unique by comparison. The steep drop in the storm's central pressure over the last 24 hours makes it the 'fastest deepening Atlantic hurricane' before September, beating Hurricane Emily's 2005 record, according to Sam Lillo, a meteorologist and software engineer for DTN Weather. Most of Erin's intensification occurred during a 12- to 15-hour window overnight, according to Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist at AccuWeather. By 5 p.m. Friday, Erin's winds had remained only 75 mph. The hurricane 'had all of the ingredients' necessary to rapidly intensify, Pydynowski said. Erin has continued moving west into increasingly warm waters and it faces little to no wind shear, which tears apart storms. The dry air that hindered it earlier this week has moved away, and it's far enough northeast of the Caribbean islands that there are no land masses interfering with its circulation. Several islands along the northeast border of the Caribbean Sea remained under tropical storm watches. Erin is expected to bring heavy rain up to 6 inches through Monday across Puerto Rico, and in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and the southeastern Bahamas through Tuesday, the hurricane center said. Elsewhere in the tropics Hours after forecasters began tracking a new system in the western Atlantic Saturday, a westerly moving tropical wave arose off Africa. Regarding the latter disturbance, the National Hurricane Center said, 'An area of low pressure could form over the central tropical Atlantic during the middle to latter portion of next week from a westward moving tropical wave. Some subsequent development could occur as the system moves westward to west-northwestward at around 15 mph.' It has a 20% chance of development over the next seven days. Finally, an area of showers and thunderstorms off the coast of North Carolina could develop some over the next 24 hours, but conditions are expected to hinder any further development by Monday. As of 8 a.m., Sunday it had a 10% chance of developing in the next two to seven days. _____
Miami Herald
12-08-2025
- Miami Herald
Thinking about hurricane season now? Here are three things to know
South Florida Thinking about hurricane season now? Here are three things to know These articles focus on preparing for hurricane season. One questions the safety of staying in Miami high-rises during hurricanes, pointing out that newer buildings comply with strict codes, yet not all structures are equally safe. Another article offers practical advice for the 2025 hurricane season in South Florida, recommending that residents inspect their buildings and prepare emergency kits well before storms are forecasted. Meanwhile, another article estimates the cost of hurricane kits, stressing the importance of having seven days' worth of essential supplies ready in advance. Read our recent coverage below. No image found This file photo from Nov. 9, 2022, shows a Surfside beachgoer watching the breaking surf as Tropical Storm Nicole moved toward Florida. The weekend of Feb. 3-5, 2023, will not bring a tropical storm. But the scene could look as wet as storm chances are 70% in South Florida, with a forecast of gusty winds nearing 30 mph and thunderstorms. By Carl Juste NO. 1: IS IT SAFE TO STAY IN YOUR MIAMI HIGH-RISE DURING A TROPICAL STORM OR HURRICANE? WHAT TO KNOW Not every building is the same. | Published May 31, 2024 | Read Full Story by Michelle Marchante No image found Cars lineup for fuel at the Wawa gas station in Brandon, Florida on Friday, October 11, 2024 a day after Hurricane Milton struck the westcoast By Al Diaz / Miami Herald Staff NO. 2: TAKE THIS ADVICE TO DEAL WITH THE 2025 HURRICANE SEASON IN SOUTH FLORIDA Forecasters are calling it above average. | Published May 23, 2025 | Read Full Story by Michelle Marchante No image found A pile of emergency preparation, natural disaster supplies including: checklist, flashlight, first aid kit, lantern, water bottles, canned goods, can opener, radio, backpack, batteries. When it's hurricane season it's best to be prepared. By fstop123 NO. 3: HOW MUCH WILL A HURRICANE KIT COST? SEE PRICES AS YOU GET READY FOR STORM SEASON Prepare and avoid panic buying. You'll save money and your sanity. | Published May 29, 2025 | Read Full Story by Howard Cohen The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
