Climate change: a status report 🧵

When even scientists are shocked by extreme weather, the only conclusion to draw: we're in trouble. Must-read story by @eroston.bsky.social 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Central Park hit 100F today for the first time since 2012, the World Cup is churning on and Taylor Swift is (maybe?) trying to get married at Madison Square Garden. A dangerous combo! Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Several colleagues and I have a big new feature out today: An inside look at the global peptide trade, a billion-dollar black market in experimental and potentially dangerous drugs that RFK Jr. is pushing to make legal. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Tropical storm watches are up in TX and LA. The swirl of thunder and rain may spin up into Tropical Storm Arthur later. This might be a blip in a fragile energy market and a headache for World Cup fans looking to get to the stadium. @bloomberg.com story here: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

El Niño has arrived - and it's on track to be a big one. From transatlantic flight times to Panama Canal shipping delays, to the cost of a candy bar or even just a bottle of soap, its effects can pop up all over the economy. (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Trump administration wants to give political appointees sweeping authority to halt or prevent research on climate and topics at odds with White House priorities. 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

⚡ The AI data center boom in the US is threatening to claim its biggest victim yet — the nation’s largest electric grid operator. ⚡ In an explosive speech, the FERC chair said it may have grown "too big to function." 🎁Gift link to our deep dive below 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Artificial intelligence data centers are on the verge of reaching their limits. That’s forcing a reckoning among hyperscalers, data center operators, chip makers and power equipment producers. As they scale up, they are having to reimagine how data centers are designed, built and powered. 🎁 link:

A judge has temporarily blocked the National Science Foundation from dismantling a globally significant weather and climate research center in Colorado.

Trump's EPA says its latest climate rollback — delaying the phasedown of highly polluting greenhouse gases used in refrigeration — will save Americans millions of dollars on groceries. Its own economic analysis for the final rule tells a different story. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

It's not just you: Groceries are getting more expensive. And that's before prices reflect the full effects of the Iran war and a strong El Niño on the horizon (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Everyone's talking about what it means for the data center boom. But with its deal to buy Dominion, NextEra is also picking up territory in states where extreme weather has caused more than $57 billion in damage over the last 5 years (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

NEW: The Trump administration on Thursday plans to announce it will delay a planned phasedown of refrigerants as it looks for ways to cut consumers’ costs and lay blame for high prices on former President Joe Biden. Gift link @bloomberg.com: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

East Coast power plant operators are under pressure to generate what they can and help keep the lights (and ACs) on...when they'd normally be making repairs before summer demand surges. Gift link @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Journalism job alert: Bloomberg is hiring a Canadian real estate reporter, based in Toronto. bloomberg.avature.net/careers/Publ...

Cameron Hamilton led FEMA for a few months — until he opposed plans to kill it. Now that Trump has nominated him for the top job, the question is whether he will defend the agency or further weaken it.

Trump's new pick to lead FEMA is a familiar name: Cameron Hamilton. He's the former acting chief who got pushed out last year after telling Congress he didn't think FEMA should be abolished. Instead? He'd favored downsizing it "pretty radically," he later told me and @zhirji.bsky.social 🧵

While at FEMA, Cameron Hamilton "had a vision to downsize the agency pretty radically." Now he's been tapped to lead it once again, in a Trump nomination that comes with extraordinary ambiguity (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"A transformed" FEMA: Trump's task force advises huge changes to everything from flood insurance to housing relief to reimbursing states for destroyed infrastructure. But much of it can't happen without Congress. Free to read from me + @zhirji.bsky.social

BREAKING: FEMA this week officially called back staffers who have been on administrative leave for *8 months* after signing a whistleblower letter last August. Some of the disaster workers started back today. Story @bloomberg.com, with gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Good morning, according to the latest from the US Drought Monitor UT, CO, GA, AL, SC, NC, VA, TN, MS, NJ, and DE are all 100% in drought. MD is more than 99% droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap.a... #drought #weather

Drought afflicting some 90% of Nebraska and Oklahoma lands is threatening the winter wheat crop and squeezing cattle producers — and it's expected to last through spring. By @laurenthal.bsky.social, Erin Ailworth + @ilenapeng.bsky.social for @bloomberg.com

Drought across the US Plains is threatening wheat yields and prompting ranchers to thin herds

The El Niño that's building could be "very strong," with big steering effects on global weather in the months to come. Gift link🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The trailer for ‘Pressure’ is here, the film which tells the story of the most important weather forecast; the D-Day forecast Andrew Scott stars as Group Captain James Stagg – the Met Office meteorologist tasked with delivering the weather forecast and helping shape D-Day's plans In cinemas 9 Sept

More than 20 states are legally challenging the Trump administration’s decision to roll back a landmark scientific determination that greenhouse gases threaten human health, which underpins various federal climate rules. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Fervo Energy might be the one clean tech startup having a good time in Donald Trump's America. The company's commercial geothermal pilot came online in 2023, just as ChatGPT became a household name and the AI race took off in earnest. And geothermal tax credits have remained intact.

With Noem on the way out, here are questions disaster experts have shared with me & @laurenthal.bsky.social @bloomberg.com: what happens to the FEMA Review Council? Will there finally be an officially nominated FEMA head? And what happens to the 100k policy? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: Here's what the crisis in the Middle East and turmoil in energy markets mean for renewable energy and the clean transition Story w @akshatrathi.bsky.social @sharonchenhm.bsky.social via @bloomberg.com FREE read: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NWS is starting to roll out plans for a significant reorganization, and (per reporting by @laurenthal.bsky.social) the first aspect to be publicly acknowledged is the disbanding of the Climate Prediction Center and merging it into other NWS entities. tinyurl.com/47vpe3pa

My comprehensive look at the future of major hurricane landfalls for the continental U.S. There is no long-term trend in major hurricane landfalls, but with more majors now prowling the Atlantic, a shift in steering currents could change that.

First ice, then fire: A big blaze at the edge of Florida's Everglades ecosystem has its roots in a recent deep-freeze event, compounded by extensive drought. Gift link 🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scoop: The Climate Prediction Center is being folded into other agencies overseen by the National Weather Service The change follows moves by the Trump administration to dismantle climate science programs By @weathersullivan.bsky.social & @laurenthal.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

While emergency repairs to DC Water's broken sewer line could be completed by mid-March, there’s *no timeline* for how long it will take to clean up the environmental damage caused by the spill. My latest @bloomberg.com (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Why wasn't AI more helpful in predicting this week's giant snowstorm for New York and much of the Northeast? As one scientist put it, "there’s no perfect model yet -- that's the problem." Gift link 🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

People in NY/NJ/CT: Depending on how you feel about snow, I come bearing...news (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Another day, another rollback. The EPA on Friday rolled back rules limiting mercury & other toxic air pollution from power plants, the latest in a series of moves by Trump designed to boost the nation’s shrinking coal sector. Story @bloomberg.com, gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

According to EPA, costs start at "hundreds of billions of dollars on the low end" and could go much, much higher. Read @zhirji.bsky.social's smart story for free:

Trump is shrinking the EPA more quickly & aggressively than ever before, culminating in this week's move to rescind the crucial "endangerment finding" underpinning key regulations of planet-warming pollution. Here's what it all means (a gift link @bloomberg.com): www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

If you're wondering what to expect after the EPA repeals its endangerment finding (or not sure what the endangerment finding is!) @zhirji.bsky.social + @jendlouhy.bsky.social are here to help

From late last night: The EPA plans this week to repeal a policy that provides the legal foundation for a raft of rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions, marking Trump’s most consequential retreat from the fight against climate change. Gift link @bloomberg.com: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Compared with the 1st year of previous admins, including Trump’s 1st term, the current admin has taken fewer polluters to court & settled fewer existing court cases, per a new review of federal court records by the nonprofit EIP. Story @bloomberg.com w/gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Reminder: While record cold maximum and minimum temperatures are forecast across much of the U.S., the number of warm records nationally far outpaced cold records in 2025, part of a decades-long trend. Weather ≠ climate

As a massive winter storm bears down on the US, FEMA is pausing plans to "offboard" disaster relief workers. From @zhirji.bsky.social + @gregorykorte.com (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Up to 10 inches (!) of snow forecast for NYC this weekend as a big old winter storm sweeps half the country. Get ready for snow plows and travel delays (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Heat and greenhouse gas pollution rise in lock-step — until 2023, when the thermostat goes bonkers. 🎁🔗 The 2025 climate numbers are in. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

The EPA will no longer calculate the monetary value of saving human lives, among other health impacts, when setting new clean air rules. It quietly debuted this new approach in a version of a new final rule for power plant emissions published online last week. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A year after the LA wildfires, the price tag for the costliest blazes in US history is still climbing. Who pays is uncertain. Our story on how risk and damage have spread beyond burned neighborhoods and the fight to limit losses and shift liability: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

New: My essay on living in the beautiful but sure-to-burn Berkeley Hills and how denial in the face of certain catastrophe remains deeply embedded in the California psyche. But the LA fires are forcing a reckoning over how we pursue the California Dream. Free link. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...