Science
Research and discovery, with findings kept separate from interpretation.
SCIENCE · 41 days agoDoes El Niño mean more snow? Seasonal outlooks cannot answer that, and here is why
The maps people check for a snow answer measure precipitation, which combines rain and melted snow into one number. They cannot separate the two. That is a built-in limitation of the product, not a gap someone forgot to fill.
Verified · 5 sources · 4 min read
SCIENCE · 41 days agoWhat is El Niño? A defined temperature threshold in one box of the Pacific
Not a storm, not a season, not a forecast. El Niño is the warm phase of a Pacific pattern, declared when sea-surface temperature in a specific region runs at least 0.5 °C above average and holds there. It is running now, at +1.2 °C.
Verified · 4 sources · 4 min read
SCIENCE · 41 days agoEl Niño vs La Niña: the difference, the thresholds, and what neither one predicts
They are the warm and cool phases of one Pacific pattern, separated by a defined temperature threshold. The Pacific is in El Niño now, at +1.2 °C. What that shifts is the odds for a season — not the weather on any given day.
Verified · 6 sources · 5 min read
SCIENCE · 44 days agoBig Bear eagle Jackie's anemia has worsened, and vets still do not know what is causing it
Bloodwork on 3 August put her packed cell volume at 13 per cent, down since the previous update. She was found with no injuries from the attack that led to her rescue — the anemia and kidney inflammation are unexplained.
Developing · 5 sources · 3 min read
SCIENCE · 45 days agoAI flagged 1,309 possible Nazca figures. Six months of walking the desert confirmed 303 of them
The machine narrowed where to look; people on the ground decided what was real. Around a quarter of the candidates were checked, and the confirmed figures split into two kinds with different audiences.
Verified · 5 sources · 2 min read
SCIENCE · 45 days agoBald eagles fledged on San Miguel Island for the first time since the 1950s
Fourteen breeding pairs hatched at least sixteen chicks across Channel Islands National Park this season. The birds vanished from the islands after DDT; the effort to bring them back began in 1980.
Verified · 5 sources · 2 min read
SCIENCE · 46 days agoWill it snow this winter? NOAA's outlook cannot say — here is what it can
NOAA's seasonal outlook does not forecast snowfall, and the reason is built into how it measures precipitation. It gives El Nino a 97 per cent chance of lasting into spring and tilts the odds wet in the south, dry in the northwest.
Verified · 5 sources · 5 min read