Tom Di Liberto

Senior Writer, Politics WIRED is where a better future is imagined. For three decades, we have been the indispensable guide to a world in constant transformation. We cover humanity’s biggest challenges, from climate change t...

come work with me! @wired.com is hiring a senior politics reporter based in NYC or DC. i am very biased but i think this is the best team in the biz right now

Fascinating (and more than a bit scary) new report out from @climatecentral.org and scientists from UCLA and UC-Berkeley looking at how many toxic facilities are at risk from rising seas. The report comes with an interactive map too.
www.climatecentral.org/report/toxic...

With all this talk of sudden stratospheric warming, geez does it make me miss the Polar Vortex Blog at [Climate].gov.

👀

Power outages getting longer as extreme weather takes larger toll, report says The average length of the longest power outage has increased in all regions since 2022, according to JD Power.

🔌 A new report shows power outages are lasting longer as extreme weather takes a bigger toll.

• Average longest outage jumped from 8.1 hours in 2022 → 12.8 hours by mid-2025
• The South saw the worst of it with 18.2hrs outages, with the West next at 12.4hrs

www.utilitydive.com/news/power-o...

A U.S. map titled “Winter Warming Since 1970 (°F)” shows nearly all regions shaded in red, representing rising winter temperatures. The Upper Midwest and Northeast stand out as the fastest-warming areas, with average winter increases between +4°F and +6°F. Source: NOAA/NCEI Climate at a Glance.

Winter isn't what it used to be.

It's actually the fastest-warming season for much of the U.S.

Since just 1970, winters (December - February) have warmed in 98% of 244 U.S. cities analyzed by 3.9°F on average.

Do you wanna build a snowman with few of the details? 🧵

What happens when politics silences science? 🧪⚡Tomorrow's episode, in partnership with Silenced Science Stories, reveals the human cost behind the headlines—tune in to The Story Collider to hear them.

#SilencedScience #ScienceSuppression #ScienceCommunication #ScienceMatters

All those third runways.

Adding to this, 2025 started pretty La Nina-ish. And will end that way too. Which should have a cooling impact on global temps.

(Heck according to the relative Oceanic Nino Index (RONI), it's been La Nina pretty much since summer 2024.)

The level of sustained global warmth is something else!

Letter from stooge in Department of Commerce saying that illegally fired person wasn't fired because of their personal performance.

It's been ~250 days since I was fired. Just gives me the warm fuzzies that the courts had to force DOC and NOAA to say that I obviously wasn't fired based on my personal performance.

Congrats!!!!

🌎 Share the facts on climate change with a new slide deck from Climate Central, available in English and Spanish. 🌎 www.climatecentral.org/climate-matt...

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Many important weather and climate data streams have gone silent as the U.S. government shutdown continues on.

As just one example, NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory did not release its regular monthly update for greenhouse gases, such as for carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

We know there's an ideal temp for running marathons, however... as the planet warms due to #climatechange, those optimal race-day conditions will become less likely.

Explore how specific races are impacted with @climatecentral.org's new interactive tool.

👉 app.climatecentral.org/dataviz/mara...

Monster hurricane Melissa approaching Jamaica

"An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft has found that
Melissa is strengthening..." This is an absolutely terrifying update so close to landfall. Melissa now at 180mph winds and 896mb central pressure.
www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh...

“If you do not measure it you can’t manage it.”

We may never know the final cost of the L.A. fires because Trump stopped keeping track.

Scientist formerly in charge of the project joined me on @lastword.msnbc.com ahead of the release of my new book “Firestorm.”

preorder: a.co/d/83fAJtc

YouTube video by climatecentral Hurricane #Melissa and Climate Change

Hurricane #Melissa explosively intensified into a Category 5 storm over exceptionally warm Caribbean waters.

Here's how climate change amplified this dangerous hurricane—from its rapid strengthening to the catastrophic rainfall ahead ⤵️

youtube.com/shorts/VtbZZ...

🧵 on Hurricane Melissa

👀

Seems not great.

Yes, hurricanes have rapidly intensified in October before.
Yes, the Caribbean has been untouched this hurricane season.

But we understand the human influence on the excessive warmth in the basin, boosting #Melissa's intensity.

Real-time data & the human-caused impacts 🧵👇

Big news out of @climatecentral.org today! We've brought back NOAA's billion dollar disaster dataset!
Check out our interactive website and bookmark it because there's more to come!
www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv...

Thanks @somas-sbu.bsky.social !

Do you want to add more climate info into your content but aren't sure how to make it feel natural?

We got you.

Join us as we walk through "dripping" - aka making it part of the conversation in stories you are already telling

🗓️ Wed, Oct. 21 | 2pm ET
🔗 climatecentral-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

New analysis! Paris Agreement commitments would help the planet avoid some really really really really bad heat impacts by 2100. But still would cause really really bad heat impacts compared to now, AND would fall short of Paris Agreement goals.
www.climatecentral.org/report/10th-...

Map of National Weather Service upper air sites in Alaska. Red circles indicate sites not currently releasing balloons, orange circles sites on releasing routinely once per day instead of twice, and purple sites with intermittent issues with releases.

Disastrous storm surge struck western AK Sunday. All 6 NWS upper air sites in the area have chronic issues (see alt-text). In addition to no releases from 2 sites, 2 sites are releasing only 1x per day instead of 2x. 2 have intermittent issues, 1 of these (Nome) had no releases 10/9 or 10/10 (1/2)

With high surf and coastal flood warnings stretching along much of the East Coast, @climatecentral.org's Coastal Risk Finder is an incredibly useful tool to understand what and who is at risk.
app.climatecentral.org/coastal-risk...

Really great article by a great former colleague @tdiliberto.bsky.social on what a weak La Niña could mean as far as snowfall goes this year, and the long term winter snowfall trend across the U.S.: www.climate.gov/news-feature...

Of note, looking at the Relative Oceanic Nino Index (one that better takes into account warming trends), 14 of the last 15 three-month periods have qualified for La Nina. That includes the last two seasons (June-August, July-September).
www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/indices...