By Daniel Acosta-Reyes , Joseph Wartman , Jessica Kaminsky , AGU pubs.  Excerpt: [Abstract - Landslide exposure in the United States has not been systematically quantified at the national scale.... To address this gap, we developed the Landslide Exposure Database (LED), the first building-level national assessment integrating landslide susceptibility, building inventories, and socioeconomic data for 128 million structures across the United States. Although high-susceptibility terrain covers 19% of United States land area, the 6.5 million people residing in these areas represent just 2% of the national population, indicating that exposure reflects human geography as much as physical geography. Geographically, exposure concentrates in the Appalachian Highlands and Pacific Mountain System....] ...Most landslides are triggered by intense precipitation or seismic activity..., though anthropogenic slope modifications can compound these drivers in urbanized areas.... Climate change is int...

By Emily Gardner , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: A few months ago, the University of Chicago’s Climate Impact Lab released a report that found that, by 2050, about 10 times as many heat-related deaths would occur in poor countries as in richer ones. Today, the same lab released a new report . This one found that the regions most affected by extreme heat are also the regions least likely to have increased levels of electricity to power the air conditioning that might provide relief. Use of cooling-related electricity is projected to grow seven times more in middle-income countries than in low-income countries in response to climate change....  Full article at https://eos.org/research-and-developments/a-changing-climate-will-lead-to-more-ac-in-wealthier-countries-and-more-deaths-in-poor-ones-new-report-suggests . 

By Claire Barber , Inside Climate News.  Excerpt: SEATTLE—In December 2025, torrential rains and catastrophic flooding hit western Washington. High precipitation levels, combined with the warmest December on record for the state, meant that many mountainous areas received rain rather than snow, leading to a deluge that broke through two levees and caused an estimated $182 million in damages to public infrastructure. The lack of snowpack also led to drought later in the summer of 2026. A draft legislative report and forecast , released this month by the Washington State Department of Ecology, reveals that changing precipitation patterns, like those seen in December 2025, are primed to leave their mark across the state as more snow falls as rain, particularly impacting eastern Washington—a reality that is far too familiar for agricultural communities in the region....  Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22072026/washington-state-winter-rains-leads-to-increased-dr...

By Laura Paddison, CNN.  Excerpt: The combined water level in two of the United States’ biggest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, has fallen to a historic low, in what experts are calling a significant moment in the Colorado River crisis — threatening a water system that supplies tens of millions. On July 12, Lake Powell was at 3,524 feet and Lake Mead was just under 1,043 feet, breaking a record set in March 2023, according to an analysis published by five Colorado River experts last week. Together, the two reservoirs haven’t been this low since 1957, during the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, before Lake Powell even existed. ...The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the Southwest. It irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland, generates enough electricity to power around 700,000 homes and provides water for 40 million people. ...The Colorado River has shrunk rapidly over the past 25 years as water demand has boomed and climate change has delivered hotter, drier...

By Arcelia Martin , Inside Climate News.  Excerpt: Amid triple-digit temperatures, solar and storage have created far more breathing room than in the last stretch of record energy demand.... Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22072026/texas-grid-operator-ercot-prepares-for-heat-demand/ . 

By Benjamin S. Weiss , Courthouse News Service.  Excerpt: The president said the government-backed compendium of scientific and technological information, used to help judges ruling on complex cases, has been “totally discredited” and accused its authors of misleading the courts on climate change. ...Writing in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday evening, Trump said he had ordered “federal suspension and debarment officials” to review the National Academy of Sciences’ “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence,” [RMSE] a decades-old publication produced in partnership with the Federal Judicial Center and aimed at assisting federal judges on issues of science and technology. ...The latest edition of the judicial reference manual, published late last year, included a chapter on climate science and climate change. ...But in February, the Federal Judicial Center, the government’s education and research agency serving federal courts, said it had removed the climate ...