Whether it is sudden rural flooding, extreme levels of snowfall or the dangerous combination of heat and wind, protecting people from Mother Nature starts with devices that are rarely seen.

A team at Tennessee Technological University built a small water sensor that is being installed near bodies of water in Tennessee that are currently not monitored for flooding.

The small sensor costs about $500, which is much cheaper than a standard U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauge. It can cost as much as $25,000. USGS gauges are typically placed near large bodies of water.

Associate professor Alfred Kalyanapu and his team are looking for more partners and grants to put more sensors in new places and improve the technology.

Other states are building out their own weather monitoring networks. Alex Brown, an environmental reporter with the Pew Charitable Trusts nonprofit, Stateline, says a lot of the effort is motivated by increasing severe weather events.

Mesonets are placed in areas where the National Weather Service doesn’t have stations.

“Especially in states where you have a lot of different climate zones or varying topography, you can have some pretty widely varying conditions between those stations," Brown said.

Oklahoma was first to build a state mesonet system. Other states followed after flying blind during major weather events. Maryland and Hawaii were two of the latest states to come on board. Now, as many as 38 states have their own state-run mesonet program.

Schools and agriculture have also come to rely on them.

“When to spray pesticides based on how the wind is blowing. When it might not be safe to have athletes practicing outside. Some utilities are paying for their own mesonets just so they can understand wildfire risk a little better and know when they might need to shut off some power lines," Brown said.

The National Weather Service pays states for the weather data collected by their mesonet programs.

Brown says that information will eventually become historical data as the impact of climate change is studied at a more local level.

HORNBROOK, Calif. — The Iron Gate Dam, one of four dams on the Klamath River, will be removed in 2023. It will be the largest dam removal in U.S. history.

For Pachomio Feliz, the waters of the Klamath River and Pacific are life. He’s a member of the Yurok Tribe.

“This is our lifeblood," he said. "Without the river, we’d be dead.”

The Klamath River runs from southern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in California.

Along the way, there are four dams holding back the river's natural flow. The dams were originally built to produce electricity and regulate water levels on the river. Environmentalists in the area say those dams are harming the river’s health.

“It has huge impacts. It has impacts on water quality, huge impacts on river systems and the basins where they’re placed,” said Jim McCarthy, an activist working for WaterWatch, a group in Oregon that advocates for river and water health.

WaterWatch, and other groups, have been advocating for dam removals around the U.S. for decades.

“I think what people don’t realize is there are a lot of dams in the country, over 90,000,” said Brian Graber, who works for the group, American Rivers.

According to the group's most recent dam report, 85% of the country’s dams are over 50 years old, which is the average life expectancy for most dams.

“We have to be deliberate about what we do with our rivers because they are facing more and more stress and if we want to keep these resources alive, taking out dams is part of the portfolio of things we need to be doing,” said McCarthy.

The Klamath’s health has been declining for years. The river was once the third-largest salmon run on the West Coast. The dams have impacted the salmon’s habitat and food supply, causing the runs to drop drastically. Those fish were the food supply for the Yurok Tribe.

“The word for salmon in Yurok is Ney-puy. The direct translation of Ney-puy means ‘what we eat’,” said Frankie Myers, the vice-chair of the Yurok Tribe.

The dams have dominated the river his whole life.

“The lower four dams on the Klamath River—for Yurok people— are a monument to colonialism,” said Myers.

The Yurok and advocates like Brian and Jim have been fighting through government red tape for the last 20 years. They might have finally achieved their goal.

Right now, the four dams are slated to be removed starting next year.

“The removal of the four lower dams on the Klamath River would have a dramatic impact on our way of life not only for our subsistence fishery but for the emotional and mental well-being of our people as well,” said Myers.

If the four are removed it will join a growing list. Nearly 60 dams were removed last year in 22 states and almost 2,000 dams have been removed over the last 100 years.

Myers hopes the Klamath will be renewed for his tribe.

“This has been my fight, my whole life. My children, my prayer, is that it won’t be theirs. Not that they won’t need to fight. Not that they won’t have a struggle, but that this struggle won’t be theirs,” he said.

A white Christmas seems to be slowly morphing from a reliable reality to a dream of snowy holidays past for large swaths of the United States in recent decades.

Analysis of 40 years of Dec. 25 U.S. snow measurements shows that less of the country now has snow for Christmas than in the 1980s.

That's especially true in a belt across the nation’s midsection — from Baltimore to Denver and a few hundred miles farther north. And snow that falls doesn’t measure up to past depths.

Scientists say the decline in the number of white Christmases is relatively small and caution about drawing conclusions. But it’s noticeable and matters mightily to some people like George Holland.

The retired Dubuque, Iowa, educator known for his front yard nativity scenes said snow on Christmas is supposed to be part of the holiday: "The one that makes my heart warm is after going to midnight Mass and coming outside and it's snowing."

But the weather in Dubuque hasn't cooperated in recent years. "We don’t have white Christmas," said boutique owner Bill Kaesbauer. "We haven’t had any in years."

The last one was in 2017 in Dubuque, which weather records show used to have white Christmases nearly two out of three years.

The average December temperature in the continental U.S. was a tad below freezing from 1981 to 1990, federal weather records show. And from 2011 to 2020, it was up to an average slightly above 35 degrees, considerably above the freezing mark.

But what did that warming trend, natural weather variability and a western megadrought mean to white Christmases?

From 1981 to 1990, on average, almost 47% of the country had snow on the ground Christmas Day, with an average depth of 3.5 inches, according to an analysis of ground observation data by the University of Arizona for The Associated Press. From 2011 to 2020, Christmas snow cover was down to 38%, with an average depth of 2.7 inches.

The change was particularly pronounced in a swath from about the Mason-Dixon line to just north of Detroit, Chicago, and Nebraska. The Christmas snow cover average there went from nearly 55% in the 1980s to slightly above 41% now, the Arizona data shows. Average snow depth fell from 3.5 inches to 2.4 inches.

The numbers are small enough that it's difficult to tell whether this is a meaningful trend and, if so, whether climate change or natural weather variability is the cause, said University of Arizona atmospheric scientist Xubin Zeng, who ran the data.

Still, Zeng, who has published studies on decreasing snowpack in the western U.S. being connected to climate change, said the downward slide of white Christmases is consistent with global warming.

In 20 to 30 years "with climate warming, the prospects of a white Christmas in many parts of the U.S.A. will be slim indeed," said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

A separate analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration looks at "climate normals" — 30-year periods for about 5,000 weather stations across the lower 48 states. Comparing normals for 1981-2010 to normals for 1991-2020 shows more stations are seeing statistical odds for a white Christmas shrink, but the agency cautions against drawing a conclusion about any trend.

In much of Iowa and eastern Washington, the changes are bigger than elsewhere, according to NOAA. From 1981 to 2010, Dubuque’s chance for a white Christmas was 63% but it’s now down to 42%. Walla Walla, Washington’s chance of getting a white Christmas dropped in half from 19% in 1981 to 2010 to 9.5% now.

Denver’s airport station went from 40% chance of Christmas snow from 1981 to 2010 to 34%. Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, Fort Wayne, Topeka, Des Moines, Akron, Albany, Olympia, Rapid City, and Oklahoma City airports saw drops of three or four percentage points.

The line where there’s at least a 10% chance for a white Christmas moved noticeably north with the new normals, said NOAA climate scientist Imke Durre. And the nation’s capital went from 10% to 7%.

"The movement of that line is consistent with a warmer December," Durre said.

New York, Philadelphia and Concord, New Hampshire, recorded small increases in chances of Christmas snow on the ground.

A data set from Rutgers University’s global snow lab finds continental U.S. snow in the last week of December slightly increasing, not decreasing, said climate scientist David Robinson, whose data based on satellite imagery goes back to 1966.

"There’s no trend. You just don’t see it," Robinson said.

Often people in their 60s and 70s think there are fewer white Christmases, he added, because the 1960s had more than usual white Christmases.

Temperature alters snowfall in two different ways. In warmer borderline areas, warmer air turns snow into rain. But in cooler more northern areas where even higher temperatures are still below freezing, warmer temperatures mean more snow because warmer air holds more moisture, which comes down as snow, meteorologists said.

Several meteorologists cautioned about finding trends in complex data where both precipitation and temperature are factors. But despite those issues, fewer white Christmases seems associated with warmer temperatures from climate change, said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini.

"It matters for many as an emotional weight of how the season ought to feel or how we think it ought to feel," National Snow and Ice Data scientist Twila Moon said. "But the climate scientist in me is also very interested in having a white Christmas because it’s an indicator of how much and what type of precipitation we’ve gotten. And that is also really important because so much of our country is dealing with extreme drought right now."

In Helena, Montana, "it definitely feels like we don’t have as much snow or the winters are different," said Shawn Whyte on Tuesday as the high hit 52. "I’m looking out my window right now and I have a lovely view of the entire hill in a valley and it is brown. It’s ugly and brown."

"For us here, we expect winter and cold and it makes you feel snuggly and cozy," said Whyte, an information technology manager who said she's having trouble getting her Christmas spirit with no snow.

Maybe, she said, if she just goes caroling it will be like a Hallmark movie and the Christmas snow will come at the last minute.

The effects of climate change go beyond increasingly intense fires and floods. It's having a psychological effect as well.

The Lancet Planetary Health Journal found an overwhelming majority of teenagers and young adults are sad, anxious or frightened by climate change — and don't believe the government is doing enough to protect them.

Young people aren't the only ones who are worried. The Potential Energy Coalition, a new non-profit group, found that more than 60% of Americans are concerned about climate change, but only 14% talk about the issue often.

"In my case, my 17-year-old made me do it," Potential Energy Coalition CEO John Marshall. "He's like, 'Dad you've been in communications for 30 years, why don't you start helping with this issue?' I think a lot of change happens when our younger generation prompts us to do that."

That's why the Potential Energy Coalition teamed up with the Ad Council and Science Moms for a new campaign to empower parents to discuss climate change.

Science Moms is a group of climate scientists who are also mothers looking to educate, empower and inspire moms through relatable information.

"Our communication probably hasn't been the best at times as scientists," said Melissa Burt, one of the founding members of Science Moms. "We're using words that people don't understand, and so they kind of just push this to the side, 'This is not something that matters to me because I have no idea what you're saying,' right? We can provide them with the information, and we can talk about things."

The Science Moms website is loaded with resources on climate change for families like books, videos and simple tools to take action.

While the problem may seem complex, the message is simple.

"I want all of the moms and the parents to kind of join me on this front row seat to really use their voice and empower them to be a part of that movement for change," Burt said. "We've all experienced what happened over the last several months with the extreme heat, and the drought, and the water shortages, and the fires and floods. Climate change is here, and we have kind of a small window of opportunity to act, but it's not too late."

After surging in the spring, the prices of goods like lumber, corn and soybeans have come back down to Earth. Coffee is headed in the opposite direction.

What's happening: Futures for robusta coffee, which is often used to make espresso, recently jumped as high as $2,024 per ton, their highest level in four years. Analysts are pointing to adverse weather in Brazil as well as COVID-19 restrictions in Vietnam.

"Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world," Warren Patterson, ING's head of commodities strategy, told me. "They've been hit with quite a bad drought this year and it's been followed by frost," which has seriously harmed the country's coffee trees.

Arabica futures for December are up 3% this month after climbing 18% in July.

What it means: Companies like Starbucks buy coffee ahead of time and have hedging strategies in place to lock in prices. But J.M. Smucker, which owns the Folgers and Dunkin' coffee brands, said last week that rising costs will still affect its business, especially since it's already contending with more expensive transportation and packaging.

"As we came into the fiscal year, we were anticipating mid single-digit cost inflation as a percent of our total cost of goods sold," J.M. Smucker's Chief Financial Officer Tucker Marshall told analysts. "Now we're seeing high single-digit cost inflation."

Consumers could pay some of the difference. JDE Peet's, whose coffee portfolio includes Peet's Coffee and Stumptown, said earlier this month that it had some hedging "in place" but was thinking hard about its pricing strategy.

Another commodity that's been on the rise recently is oil. Prices are being closely monitored on Monday for effects from Hurricane Ida, which has now weakened to a tropical storm. More than 95% of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production facilities have been shut down, regulators said Sunday.

Brent crude futures were gaining ground even before Ida hit, rising 11.5% last week thanks to optimism that China appeared to have the delta variant under control. It was the best week for the global oil benchmark since spring 2020.

Economists often strip out volatile energy and food prices when they track inflation. But higher costs can still impact inflation expectations among businesses and consumers, which are closely tracked by central banks like the Federal Reserve.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated Friday that the central bank, which has been buying $120 billion worth of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities every month since the height of the pandemic to support the economy, will start pumping the brakes before the end of the year.

Yet data on inflation — and how long it will persist — remains murky, as weather events and ongoing supply chain pressures throw new curveballs. That complicates the decision-making process for policymakers at a delicate moment.

PARIS (AP) — Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose slightly in December compared with the same month of 2019, indicating the sharp drop seen due to the pandemic was short-lived.

Figures released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency show emissions from the production and use of oil, gas and coal were 2% higher in December 2020 than a year earlier.

The Paris-based agency said a resurgence in economic activity coupled with a lack of clean energy policies mean many countries are now seeing higher emissions than before the coronavirus outbreak.

Scientists have previously calculated that CO2 emissions fell by 7% during 2020 as people stayed home because of the pandemic. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.

The agency says the rebound in emissions is a stark warning that not enough is being done to accelerate clean energy transitions worldwide.

“If governments don’t move quickly with the right energy policies, this could put at risk the world’s historic opportunity to make 2019 the definitive peak in global emissions,” said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director. “In March 2020, the IEA urged governments to put clean energy at the heart of their economic stimulus plans to ensure a sustainable recovery. But our numbers show we are returning to carbon-intensive business-as-usual.”

Birol says this year is pivotal for international climate action, but the latest numbers are a sharp reminder of the immense challenge we face in rapidly transforming the global energy system.

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — There’s a lot of solutions out there that people like to talk about when it comes to climate change, but one that’s gaining a lot of traction is kelp.

The seaweed is more than just a slimy sushi wrap. It could be key to fighting climate change. Just ask Michael Doall, the Associate Director for Restoration & Aquaculture at Stony Brook University.

“Not only is the kelp soaking up nitrogen, it’s soaking up carbon. It’s doing photosynthesis just like plants on land, soaking up this carbon. So, it’s sequestering this carbon, taking it out of the water and then again, when we harvest the kelp, we’re removing that. We’re approaching one of our farm sites and it’s part of this study over the last three years. We’re helping farmers learn how to grow kelp and integrate kelp in their oyster farms,” said Doall.

Doall and his crew took us to see one of their kelp farms off the coast of Long Island. We joined them with some waders to get a closer look.

“Reach in, grab that line and just lift it up. We seeded this at the end of December,” Doall explained.

And we got to taste it too.

Back on shore, Doall's partner, Chris Gobler, the Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation at Stony Brook, explained why kelp is such an important asset in the fight against climate change.

“Most of the research I’ve done is on environmental pollution, things like climate change, ocean acidification, harmful algeal blooms, overloading of nutrients. And as it turns out, seaweeds, and in particular kelp, is sort of the remedy for all of these environmental insults,” Gobler explains.

Like Doall said earlier, one of the main things the seaweed does is absorb nitrogen and carbon in the water. CO2 in the ocean can make the water more acidic, which can cause damage in a number of ways, but it’s incredibly detrimental to shellfish.

That's why oysters may go better with kelp than cocktail sauce.

“Ocean acidification is the biggest threat to animals that make shells. You can create what we’d call a halo effect. So, you’d have a particular area where maybe the whole estuary is getting acidified, but in that area where you’re farming the oysters, where you have the kelp, you’re actually creating sort of a refuge,” said Gobler.

We wanted to get an even closer look at the kelp, so we dove in.

It’s an amazing plant that can grow incredibly fast. Doall expects the long string blades to be up to 12 feet long in a few months. They thrive in the icy waters.

Kelp isn’t the only solution to fight climate change, but Doall and Gobler hope it can be another tool for humans to use in this fight to save the planet.