Tues: The Real Source of American Problems: Taylor Swift.

What'lly You Have? Too Much Water or Too Little?

One of the major reasons is the position of the jet stream, which often shifts south during an El Niño winter. This shift typically brings wetter and cooler weather to the South while the North becomes drier and warmer, according to NOAA.

Because the jet stream is essentially a river of air that storms flow through, they can move across the South with increased frequency during an El Niño winter. More storms means more precipitation, typically from the southern Plains to the Southeast. This could be crucial for states like Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi plagued by drought.

The combination of cooler weather and more frequent precipitation may also increase the chances for wintry precipitation like freezing rain, sleet and snow to fall in the South.

El Niño typically leads to a milder winter in the North, from the Pacific Northwest to the Rockies, Plains and Midwest. Individual storms can still form and deliver bouts of brutal cold or heavy snow to these regions, but they are typically less frequent.

This would be bad news for portions of the Midwest also dealing with extreme and exceptional levels of drought, and for snowpack in the Pacific Northwest – a key water source for the region.



An El Niño winter is coming. Here’s what that could mean for the US

“Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.” - WC Fields

Officials in Louisiana are in a race against time as salt water from the Gulf of Mexico threatens drinking water supplies in New Orleans and its surrounding areas because of unusually low levels in the drought-addled Mississippi River.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell signed an emergency declaration Friday in response to concerns that salt water encroaching upriver could affect the availability of safe drinking water in the coming weeks.

The situation highlights the dangers of saltwater intrusion for communities in the southeastern part of Louisiana and adds to broader concerns about climate change and the availability of safe drinking water in drought-prone parts of the country.

Stephen Murphy, an assistant professor at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, estimated that close to 1 million people within the greater New Orleans metropolitan area could be affected if water levels in the Mississippi River remain low.

Though forecasts may change, it’s estimated that briny water could reach water intake facilities in Belle Chasse by Oct. 13 and facilities in New Orleans later in October.

Around 2,000 residents in Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, were already relying on bottled water this summer after salt water infiltrated the area’s water systems.

Excess salinity in drinking water can cause elevated sodium levels in the body, which increases blood pressure.

New Orleans braces for drinking water emergency from drought-stricken Mississippi River

When Some Liberals Want to Abolish ICE, They Don't Mean This.

The sea ice around Antarctica likely had a record low surface area when it was at its maximum size this winter, a preliminary US analysis of satellite data showed Monday.

As the southern hemisphere transitions into spring, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said in a statement that Antarctic sea ice had only reached a maximum size of 16.96 million square kilometers (6.55 million square miles) this year, on September 10.

The ice pack typically reaches its largest size during the colder winter months, so the September 10 reading will likely remain this year's maximum.

"This is the lowest sea ice maximum in the 1979 to 2023 sea ice record by a wide margin," said the NSIDC, a government-supported program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

At its high-point this year, the sea ice was 1.03 million square kilometers smaller than the previous record, roughly the size of Texas and California combined.

"It's a record-smashing sea ice low in the Antarctic," said NSIDC scientist Walt Meier.

Antarctic sea ice hits lowest winter maximum on record: US data

Our Cities Aren't Shit Holes, But They May Be Sink Holes

On a recent tour underneath Chicago’s iconic skyline, Alessandro Rotta Loria, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University, pointed out one of the sensors he and his team have installed across the city to track underground temperatures.

Not much bigger than a credit card, more than 100 of the sensors have been placed in parking garages, basement boiler rooms and subway tunnels all around the downtown Loop of Chicago in an effort to track what Rotta Loria describes as a “silent hazard.”

According to his research, air temperatures in underground human-made structures can be up to 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius) higher than “undisturbed” ground temperature. It’s a threat distinct from global warming but one that comes with similar threats of wreaking havoc on public health and crucial infrastructure.

“There’s already a significant amount of heat beneath our feet,” Rotta Loria said. “And this heat has caused the ground to deform already.”

Alessandro Rotta Loria in his lab as he analyzes the heat data his sensors collected into a forecasting map of the Chicago Loop. NBC News
The research, published in July in the journal Nature, detailed how heat trapped under the surface is causing a phenomenon called “underground climate change” and could cause major cities including Chicago, New York and London to “sink.”

This underground climate change is different from the climate change in the atmosphere, which comes from greenhouse gasses caused by burning fossil fuels. Subways and buildings emit heat directly into the sublayers of the ground. As the heat spreads, the ground also deforms, which can cause city structures and infrastructure to crack. While researchers have worried about the potential of cities to sink due to heavy building loads, spreading heat like this can cause similar displacements.

Rotta Loria said the problem of rising heat underground is “the direct consequence of human presence on Earth, and a direct consequence of building our structures.” And with added heat trapped in the ground, he warned that public health, building structures and public transportation will suffer.

Underground climate change: How heat is trapped under the surface, threatening buildings