FAQ: What is wind chill, and why is it dangerous?

Strong winds can make it feel a lot colder than the thermometer suggests. Protect yourself by covering exposed skin and sheltering inside.
(Image credit: Matt Rourke)

Strong winds can make it feel a lot colder than the thermometer suggests. Protect yourself by covering exposed skin and sheltering inside.
(Image credit: Matt Rourke)

The Interior Department said pausing construction of offshore wind farms would allow the government agencies to work with project developers to mitigate potential risks. But wind companies say the administration isn't sharing information about newly-discovered threats.
(Image credit: Michael Dwyer/AP)

Scientists calculate that last year was one of the three hottest on record, along with 2024 and 2023. The trend indicates that warming could be speeding up, climate monitoring teams reported.
(Image credit: Bilal Hussein)

The EPA won't consider the economic costs of harms to human health, at least for now. Legal and health experts are concerned that the change could make it easier for the agency to roll back rules.
(Image credit: J. David Ake)

Wildfires last January destroyed communities around Los Angeles. Homeowners say recovery has been slowed by fights with insurers to get their claims paid.
(Image credit: Josh Edelson)

A federal judge ruled Monday that work on a major offshore wind farm can resume, handing the industry at least a temporary victory as President Trump seeks to shut it down.
(Image credit: Steve Helber)

Jacob Soboroff was raised in the Pacific Palisades and reported live from the area as it was devastated by fire in 2025. In Firestorm, Soboroff offers a minute-by-minute account of the catastrophe.
(Image credit: Josh Edelson)
Volunteers in Minnesota are collecting pine needles to help researchers determine how PFAS -- the substances commonly called forever chemicals -- find their way into water, soil and air.
There's increasing concern about PFAS, the substances commonly called forever chemicals found throughout the environment. Now volunteers in Minnesota are collecting pine needles throughout the state in an effort to help researchers determine how PFAS find their way in water, soil, and air when there seems to be no obvious source

The U.S. is forecast to add a lot less power from renewables than analysts previously expected. The potential slowdown comes as electricity demand is rising faster than it has in decades.
(Image credit: John Locher)

Household waste increases by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Years. Rules vary by municipality on what you can recycle and what needs to go into the trash.
(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)
This year's Arctic Report Card from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds that the northernmost part of the Earth is warming faster than the global average, leading to melting glaciers, shifting fish populations, and rivers running orange.
(Image credit: Josh Koch)
An animal not seen in Ohio in over a century, the fisher, has been spotted on a local wildlife camera. The sighting has raised hopes that the native mammal is naturally returning to the state.

Death cap mushrooms look harmless, but are responsible for the majority of the world's mushroom-related deaths. California officials say 21 people have been sickened in recent weeks, one fatally.
(Image credit: William West)
In Alaska, a federal grant that funded seismic data collection in order to warn people about tsunamis is being cancelled. Experts say cuts like this could make tsunami warnings less reliable.
An environmental group is leading a call for Congress to place a moratorium on the construction of new data centers used to power artificial intelligence.
After a water plant in Louisville, Kentucky, saw a spike in a certain "forever chemical," their quest for answers led them hundreds of miles away.
India's olive ridley turtle numbers appear to have rebounded after years of patchwork efforts to stem their decline. Can it last?
(Image credit: Diaa Hadid)

Even amid rising grocery prices and increased sensitivity to environmental issues, Americans still trash once-edible food at alarming rates.
(Image credit: Keren Carrion)

Dozens of countries had called for a clear "roadmap" to transition away from the use of coal, oil and natural gas. The U.S. did not participate in the negotiations.
(Image credit: Andre Penner)