Zack Labe

Looking for polar climate visualizations? Start here: 📈📉 + Arctic sea-ice extent: + Arctic sea-ice thickness/volume: + Arctic temperatures: + Antarctic sea ice:

Join me today with @PolarBears to chat about the importance of storytelling with data:

I'm up in Churchill with @PolarBears keeping a close eye on the start of the freeze-up this year. No ice yet, and climate change is pushing this later and later into the season. This means polar bears have to spend more time on land before they can return to the sea ice to hunt.

I'm headed up to the tundra next week to observe the annual polar bear migration along the Hudson Bay in Canada and do science communication and educational outreach on the effects of our rapidly warming Arctic. Follow along with our trip at @PolarBears:

El Niño is everywhere in the headlines, but ultimately human-caused climate change is the key reason for the record global warmth. 📈 Curious about how these two climate stories relate? Learn more in our latest report:

We're excited to share our new climate change indicators tool, with interactive real-time visualizations and data. We hope to expand it, so please let us know what you'd like to see! ➡️ Global Indicators: ▶️ Local climate:

Learn more about this new live dashboard in "The changes we can measure in each of these indicators have growing consequences for communities, economies, and ecosystems around the world."

RT @ClimateCentral: According to #ClimateCentral's @ZLabe, "One of the strongest El Niños on record is unfolding on top of a much warmer climate." 🎥Watch our latest Monthly Climate Briefing for a recap:

#Arctic climate rankings are now in for September 2026: It was unusually warm again. No updates on PIOMAS sea-ice volume and thickness. #SciComm #DataViz #OpenScience #OpenData

RT @brianstelter: The Trump admin's cuts to weather satellites "will set the country back nearly a decade, experts say. The loss of data used to observe, forecast and research extreme weather could prevent the country from making major advances in weather prediction..."

Global sea-ice extent is currently the 3rd lowest on record for this time of year. Find the data visualizations here:

"September 2026 was the warmest September on record for the contiguous U.S. Records have been maintained since 1895." Note that this was especially driven by unusually warm nights. ➡️ Our latest monthly climate report (Global and U.S. data+graphics):

"We can expect many extremes to be further amplified, including hotter heat waves and a supercharged water cycle. These changes can have major impacts on local communities and ripple through the global economy." Our recent state of the climate briefing:

We have a couple of new publications out this fall: + Hurricanes and visualizing risk: + Supporting Earth science data: + Improving polar observations for trustworthy machine learning prediction models:

Looking for monthly updates on climate change and extreme weather? Bookmark this page for our monthly reports, which include data summaries and even attribution context for some extreme events: September's global report will be posted later today!

RT @ClimateCentral: The race continues for the hottest year on record, with 2026 so far ranking as the 2nd warmest for our planet! What are the impacts of this growing warmth on agriculture? Find out tomorrow during #ClimateCentral’s Monthly Climate Briefing. 👉Register:

All of my climate data visualization blogs so far this year are posted at: Check them out!

My Arctic temperature graphics have been updated through September 2026: There was a sharp contrast in departures last month between Greenland (much colder) and western Siberia (much warmer). #DataViz #SciComm #OpenScience #OpenData #Arctic

We have a new publication out! We discuss why supporting and strengthening sparse observational networks across the polar regions is essential for developing trustworthy AI prediction models and evaluating their performance. In @AGU_Eos (open access):

"It marks another sobering record for an already historically hot year." via @sciam at

I enjoyed the opportunity to share how winters are changing across the Northeast at the NY Salt Summit this week! My talk explored how warming temperatures are changing winter hazards, alongside discussions about safety and the impacts of road salt on freshwater and public health