Whether it’s the 110-plus-degree days being reported out West, severe flooding events in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, or the 100-degree water temperatures being measured off the coast of Florida, it’s hard not to wonder if these extreme weather events are just a fluke of nature, part of a cyclical weather pattern or a harbinger of something more concerning. If anyone could make a well-educated guess on the matter, it would be Cameron Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor of geography at Kent State University, who specializes in climate and weather change. “It’s unequivocal that the climate is wa...

So, this summer has been a doozy for those of us who live in the upper Midwest and Northeast. The wildfires raging in Canadian forests have been generating massive amounts of smoke. As 2023 saw the start of an El Niño, wind patterns shifted to allow pressure systems to draw air masses from where those fires were occurring. There are two major variables at work here; the lack of precipitation in Canada over the winter creating dry conditions conducive to wildfires and the El Niño wind patterns drawing that smoke our way. Had either of these things not occurred, we would be enjoying our norma...