Lauren Sommer
Lauren Sommer is a correspondent for NPR's climate desk, where she covers scientists on the frontlines of documenting the warming climate and how that science is — and isn't — being used by communities to prepare for increasing disasters.
Since joining NPR, she's looked at how a lack of building codes is putting people at risk of wildfires, how cities are failing to plan for stronger storms and how communities are allowing development in flood-prone areas. Sommer also scaled ice sheets to explore how melting polar ice is having mysterious impacts around the planet. That project won gold in the 2023 Kavli Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Prior to joining NPR, she spent more than a decade covering climate and environment for KQED Public Radio in San Francisco, where she delved into the impacts of California's historic drought and record-breaking wildfires. On the lighter side, she's run from charging elephant seals and searched for frogs in Sierra Nevada lakes.
Sommer was also host of KQED's macrophotography nature series Deep Look, which searched for universal truths in tiny organisms like black-widow spiders and parasites. She has received a national Edward R. Murrow, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
She can be reached via encrypted message at sommer.55 on Signal.
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Forecasters expect the El Niño weather pattern to strengthen significantly this year, raising the risks of extreme weather around the world well into 2027.
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A new United Nations report finds that the world will soon pass a dangerous threshold for climate warming. Countries had agreed to limit warming to that level to avoid the most extreme impacts.
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Warming ocean waters are teeing up a particularly strong El Niño weather pattern.
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California has adopted the toughest new rules in the country that require homeowners to manage the plants around their houses. Fire experts say it helps protect houses from burning, but public pushback has been strong. -
There's a lot homeowners can do to prepare for wildfires, such as managing flammable plants and using fire-resistant building materials. But some states struggle to pass rules requiring those steps. -
Many of the nation's overgrown forests are at high risk of burning. Under the Trump administration, work to reduce flammable vegetation fell by more than a million acres compared to previous years. -
States say disaster funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a trickle under the Trump administration. That's delaying projects to protect communities from wildfires and hurricanes. -
Federal scientists have found that 2025 was among the hottest years on record since the Industrial Revolution, continuing a warming trend and bringing Earth closer to a crucial threshold.
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Insurance companies are dropping customers as the cost of disasters goes up. Some communities in California are working to reduce their risk, but so far, insurance companies often aren't factoring that in. -
Nations have begun climate negotiations at the COP30 summit in Brazil. Studies show the world is not on track to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change.
