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Climate

A Big Change Is Coming to the Texas Power Grid
Climate

AM Briefing: Fixing the Grid

On the DOE’s transmission projects, Cybertruck recalls, and Antarctic greening

Climate

AM Briefing: FEMA’s Funding Shortfall

On Mayorkas’ warning, damage at the Palisades plant, and violence against women

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San Francisco Recorded its Hottest Day of the Year

AM Briefing: San Francisco’s Hottest Day

On autumn heat waves, the VP debate, and solar tariffs

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How Climate Change Made Hurricane Helene Worse

AM Briefing: Hurricane Helene’s Climate Link

On rapid weather analysis, BlocPower, and free EV chargers

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Hurricanes in the Atlantic.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

If Hurricane Helene were the only memorable storm to make landfall in the U.S. in 2024, this would still be remembered as an historically tragic season. Since its arrival as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday night in Florida’s Big Bend region, Helene has killed more than 100 people and caused more than $160 billion across six states. Recovery efforts are expected to last years, if not decades, in the hardest-hit regions of Western North Carolina, some 300 miles inland and 2,000 feet above the nearest coastline. “Helene is going to go down as one of the most impactful hurricanes in U.S. history,” AccuWeather’s senior director of forecasting operations, Dan DePodwin, told me when we spoke on Friday.

As of Monday morning, the National Hurricane Center is tracking five additional systems in the Atlantic basin. Two of those storms reached named status on Friday — Joyce and Isaac — though their paths appear to keep them safely in the middle of the Atlantic. A third storm, Kirk, reached tropical storm strength on Monday and is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane, but is likewise likely to turn north and stay out at sea.

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Climate

AM Briefing: Helene’s Trail of Destruction

On extreme flooding in North Carolina, another nuclear revival, and the U.K.’s last coal plant

The Stunning Destruction of Hurricane Helene
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

Current conditions: Flooding and landslides in Nepal over the weekend killed almost 200 people • Storm John dumped more than three feet of rain on southern Mexico • An autumn heat wave is settling over the California coast.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Appalachian states reel from catastrophic Helene damage

The remnants of Hurricane Helene swept northeast over the weekend, bringing intense rainfall and catastrophic flooding to Central Appalachian states. Western North Carolina has been particularly hard hit. Asheville recorded about 18 inches of rain over three days, which is far more than the city typically sees in an entire month, and the resulting flooding is nothing short of devastating. At least 91 deaths have been recorded as a result of the storm but the death toll is expected to rise as the water recedes and the search for missing people continues.

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