Andrew Freedman

Journalist

New York, NY

Digital Journalist Specializing in Climate, Weather and Energy.

Andrew Freedman

Journalist

New York, NY

Digital Journalist Specializing in Climate, Weather and Energy.

‘Drunken’ Weather Pattern Leads to Deadly Heat
The heat wave that has built across the eastern U.S. — roasting cities from Memphis to Washington to Boston in a stifling blanket of heat and humidity — has had one strange characteristic that meteorologists cannot yet explain in a long-term climate context. Rather than moving west to east, as typical weather patterns do in the Northern Hemisphere, weather systems across the country have moved in the opposite direction, like a drunken driver on a dark stretch of highway, drifting from east to west during the past two weeks.
Climate Central
Bill to Shift NOAA Resources to Weather Marches On
A House bill that would mandate the nation’s top weather and climate agency shift its priorities more toward short-term weather forecasting has sped its way through the legislative process. The House Science Committee is expected to consider it in the next few weeks. The bill is aimed at changing how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) prioritizes its missions of weather, climate and ocean science.
Climate Central
Hurricanes Likely to Get Stronger & More Frequent: Study
Hurricanes are Mother Nature’s largest and most destructive storms. Fed by warm ocean waters and moist atmospheric conditions, about 90 such storms — also known as tropical cyclones — form worldwide each year. With the population of coastal areas growing daily and sea level on the rise, how these monster storms may change as the climate continues to warm is an increasingly urgent question facing climate scientists, insurance companies, and public officials.
Climate Central
Record Heat in June Extends Globe’s Streak to 340 Months
June was one of the hottest such months on record globally, based on newly released data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The month extended the unbroken string of warmer-than-average months to 340, or a stretch of more than 28 years. That means that no one under the age of 28 has ever experienced a month in which global average temperatures were cooler than average (based on the 20th century average).
Climate Central
Severe Storms Bring More 'Weather Whiplash' to U.S.
A weekend of violent weather left at least 18 people dead in Oklahoma and Arkansas from flash flooding and a string of tornadoes that ripped through the Oklahoma City metro area, which was still recovering from the devastating EF-5 twister that struck on May 20, killing 24. The extreme weather vaulted several locations into record territory for spring rainfall, after enduring two years of intense and costly drought conditions.
Climate Central
New York Launches $19.5 Billion Climate Resiliency Plan
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a far-reaching $19.5 billion plan on Tuesday to boost the city’s capacity to withstand future extreme weather events, including events comparable to Hurricane Sandy, or worse. The proposal calls for everything from constructing “adaptable floodwalls,” storm-surge barriers and dune systems, to revising building codes throughout the city.
Climate Central
NOAA Satellite Back Online After 'Micrometeoroid' Strike
All three of the U.S. geostationary weather satellites — which provide most of the satellite images seen on your nightly TV weathercast — are back in service after a “micrometeoroid” caused one of the satellites to shut down on May 22. The shutdown forced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to maneuver a backup satellite into place to ensure a nearly continuous supply of weather data and imagery over the eastern U.S. and the Atlantic Ocean.
Climate Central
Featured
Heeding Sandy's Lessons, Before the Next Big Storm
It has been six months since Hurricane Sandy redrew the northern Mid-Atlantic coastline with its record storm surge and strong winds, paralyzing New York City for days, all the while offering a disturbing preview of what future storms may do to other coastal locations as sea levels continue to rise. The storm killed 159, caused upwards of $70 billion in damage, and led to the release of nearly 11 billion gallons of untreated and partially treated sewage into Mid-Atlantic waterways, enough to cover all of New York’s Central Park 41 feet deep. There are myriad lessons that have emerged from the storm, but here are four key issues deserving of special attention.
Climate Central
Featured
Rare Beast: For Many, March Was Warmer Than April | Climate Central
March 2012 is the month that just keeps on giving when it comes to warm temperature records in the United States. Given the widespread, long-lasting and unprecedented heat wave, March came in like a lamb, and went out like . . . a grilled lamb.
Climatecentral
Featured
The Last Time CO2 Was This High, Humans Didn't Exist
The last time there was this much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere, modern humans didn't exist. Megatoothed sharks prowled the oceans, the world's seas were up to 100 feet higher than they are today, and the global average surface temperature was up to 11°F warmer than it is now.
Climate Central
Featured
Four Major Heat Records Fall in Stunning NOAA Report
The heat records just keep falling in the U.S., with the lower 48 states setting records for the warmest January through May period on record, the warmest spring season on record, and the second-warmest May, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Importantly, as announced last month, the U.S.
Climatecentral
Featured
Weather, Climate Forecasts Imperiled as Programs Cut | Climate Central
A "near-perfect storm" of factors has contributed to a rapid decline in America's Earth observation capabilities, as long-running satellite missions end and new ones struggle to get off the ground, according to a new report from the National Research Council (NRC).
Climatecentral
Featured
In St. Louis, pilot was unaware of approaching tornado
This story is the second in a two-part series on the strong tornado that struck Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on April 22, 2011, causing extensive damage to airport facilities and numerous injuries. Part I detailed how people inside the airport terminal buildings never received the warning.
Washingtonpost
Featured
New Push to Limit 'Super Greenhouse' Gases | Climate Central
United Nations climate change talks may be on a slow train to nowhere, but that doesn't mean countries can't try tackling global warming at the international level. Friday, the Federated States of Micronesia, a Pacific island nation, submitted a plan to amend the 1989 Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer to phase down the production and use of so-called "super-greenhouse gases."
Climatecentral
Featured
Historic October Northeast storm: Epic. Incredible. Downright ridiculous.
Epic. Incredible. Downright ridiculous. These words best describe the historic snowstorm that delivered a crippling wallop to parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast over the weekend. Widely referred to by its social media moniker, "Snowtober," the storm smashed records that had stood since the beginning of the reliable instrument record in the late 1800s (and in some cases, even longer than that), and upended assumptions about what a fall nor'easter can do.
Washingtonpost
In Parched Southwest, Anxious Wait for Summer Rains
On the thirsty rangelands of Arizona and New Mexico, which have been mired in an on-again, off-again drought since 1999, ranchers and water managers are hoping for an unusually wet summer monsoon season that will help make up for this winter’s lackluster snowpack. Reservoirs have been depleted to near-record lows, and the major rivers and tributaries are running at barely a trickle, making the summer rainfall season crucial to avert potentially severe water shortages, at least temporarily.
Climate Central

About

Andrew Freedman

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Freedman is the Senior Editor: Science and Special Projects for Mashable, where he also covers extreme weather, climate science, and energy.

Prior to Mashable, Freedman was a senior science writer for Climate Central.

He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post and online at weather.com and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog.

Media appearances: Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Huffington Post Live, The Weather Channel, Sirius XM Radio, and other media outlets. His work has been lauded in the Columbia Journalism Review, and been mentioned online by CNN, New Republic, Time, The Hill, and The Guardian, among others.

Freedman holds a Masters Degree in Climate and Society from Columbia University and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. He lives in Brooklyn.

He has also performed and taught improv and sketch comedy.