National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Built World

Grant funder

Alexandria has several buildings designated as cooling and warming shelters for extreme weather. Few of them can operate during a power outage. A $1 million federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aims to fix that.

Updated Oct 14

Force in Play

Forecast and tracked the 2026 season

The Atlantic Ocean has gone 112 days into hurricane season without a single hurricane. The last time the basin waited this long was 1914, at the onset of World War I.

Updated Sep 22

Force in Play

Reported the US summer heat record and tracking a strong El Niño

The Earth just recorded its joint-hottest month since modern measurements began. Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring service, reported Thursday that August 2026 tied July 2023 at 16.96°C, 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels.

Updated Sep 11

Rule Changes

Field office assessments overruled in this case

Massachusetts asked the federal government in April to declare the February blizzard a Major Disaster, unlocking funding for six coastal counties. The Trump administration denied the request in July, then denied Governor Maura Healey's appeal this week.

Updated Sep 6

Rule Changes

Processing first deep-sea mining applications under domestic law

A five-year research expedition has cataloged 788 species living 4,000 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean—90% of them previously unknown to science—just as the race to mine the same seabed accelerates. The study, published in February 2026, documents a 37% decline in animal abundance wherever mining equipment touched the seafloor. It's the first systematic look at what commercial extraction would destroy.

Updated May 27