Key climate resource becomes temporarily inaccessible
The official website hosting the most recent edition of the National Climate Assessment has gone offline. This comprehensive report is a critical tool for understanding how climate change is affecting various regions of the United States. It is commonly referenced by educators, planners, farmers, legal professionals, and concerned citizens seeking clear data on issues like rising sea levels, wildfire risks, and local temperature shifts.
Published in 2023, the latest edition of the report included a searchable interactive atlas that allowed users to examine the effects of global warming in specific cities or states. Congress mandates that the assessment be updated every four years. Work on the next edition, originally scheduled for 2027, had already begun with contributions from around 400 volunteer authors.
Development halted and federal staff released
In April, the federal staff responsible for managing the report were dismissed, effectively halting further progress. As of now, there has been no official statement explaining why the website was taken down or confirming whether the report’s development will continue as required by law.
Archived and alternative sources remain available
Despite the outage of the main website, the information is still accessible. An archived version of the 2023 edition can be found through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), though it lacks the full search capabilities of the original platform. Additionally, NASA plans to host all five previously published editions, but has not confirmed when its site will go live.
The interactive atlas remains available through a mapping software platform used by the report’s creators.
