⚽️ Climate Change is Affecting Professional Sports

⚽️ Climate Change is Affecting Professional Sports

Rising temperatures and extreme weather events are threatening professional sports around the world. Research found that an estimated 62,500 amateur football (soccer) matches were cancelled or delayed in 2020 due to weather impacts. Another poll revealed that 64% of golf spectators and players experienced weather-induced disruption. Coastal sports venues face a direct risk of rising sea levels, while inland facilities face extreme conditions brought about by urban infrastructure. Climate change could lead to $11 billion in weather damage at NFL stadiums by 2050, including impacts from flooding, storm surges, and wildfires. Winter sports venues are seeing a decline in natural snowfall and shorter overall winter seasons, forcing an increased reliability on artificial snow production which is a significant contributor to emissions. Many leagues and organizations are taking steps to implement sustainability efforts and strategies.

Annie Button, Earth.org

🤖 Next Phase of Microsoft’s Aurora AI Model

Extreme weather and climate change is said to have displaced or disrupted the lives of more than 800,000 people worldwide in 2024. Because of that, Microsoft says they remain deeply committed to Aurora, their AI model designed to help scientists understand Earth systems in new ways. Aurora has already shown promise with predicting weather, tracking hurricanes and air quality, and modeling ocean waves and energy flows. Microsoft says Aurora will remain open-source, enabling scientists everywhere to contribute and apply it to new climate and weather challenges. With new partnerships and collaboration, researchers will be able to innovate faster and deliver solutions that help communities prepare, adapt, and thrive. Microsoft is also building on their SPARROW initiative by investing in research of open-source weather stations that can expand access to high-quality environmental data.

Juan Lavista Ferres and Chris Bishop, Microsoft

🍱 Higher CO2 Levels Make Food Less Nutritious

Increased carbon dioxide in the air is reducing the nutritional quality of crops, making them contain less zinc, iron, and protein. On average, those nutrients are decreasing by 4.4%, but some are decreasing by 38%. At the same time, higher CO2 levels are increasing the number of calories in food, which can contribute to obesity. Concentrations of harmful substances such as mercury and lead may also be increasing in food. A decline in nutritional value in food can significantly affect people’s health, even if enough food is available, and can contribute to malnutrition. Researchers discovered that if the CO2 level doubles, so does the effect on the nutrients. The team says more research is needed on the effect of CO2 on other crops and to see what other ways climate change is impacting our food. The Dutch food sector has already begun innovations and research about how crops can be grown in a different way to limit the CO2 impacts.

Dagmar Aarts, Leiden University, Phys.org

New ForecastWatch Reports

ForecastWatch, one of our sister companies, provides reliable, relevant, and innovative atmospheric analytics software and services to leaders in the weather industry, government, and the insurance, financial, life sciences, and entertainment industries.

ForecastWatch recently released two new reports: Best Places to Live and Work if You Need to Know What the Weather Will Be Like Tomorrow 2025 Edition, with a United States report and a Europe report.

Our Best Places reports are unique in that they use a combination of forecast accuracy from various weather providers and an assumption that the current weather will continue over the next several days to determine locations where the weather is most and least predictable in the short term.