Environment & Science

“The pleasant stretch of weather we encountered early in the week is beyond us,” the National Weather Service said in its latest forecast discussion, with the Lehigh Valley at risk of excessive rainfall Wednesday.

After a raging fire on Saturday night destroyed his Center Valley barn, tractors, trucks and equipment, Leroy C. Stahler Jr. vows to rebuild and continue the Stahler family legacy of farming, said his daughter, Tracy Beers.

While monitoring continues, Lehigh Valley Breathes officials used the most recent project update to explain results from the research this spring at Lehigh University.

When all was said and done, May was the Lehigh Valley’s sixth consecutive warmer-than-normal month, with an average temperature of 63.4 degrees – or 1.4 degrees above normal. So what will summer bring?

Voyager 1 is now the furthest man-made object from Earth, having traveled to a distance of around 15 billion miles away.

During this year’s spring migration count, which runs from April 1 through mid-May, Hawk Mountain volunteers and staff tallied 1,001 birds of prey.

East Penn School District is seeking proposals for a potential solar farm near the Macungie and Shoemaker Elementary School buildings.

Northampton County Park and Recreation Division will host the Greenways Jamboree Celebration, marking their 50th anniversary, in tandem with the 20th anniversary of the Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape Partnership and the 28th Annual Lehigh River Sojourn.

Three Lehigh Valley researchers are arguing bird-strike fatalities are much higher than we might think. They recently published a peer-reviewed study showing bird deaths from window strikes are nearly double previous estimates, and likely higher.

The colleges have formed a partnership to build and bring online a solar facility in western Kentucky. When completed, the facility will offset electricity usage at the institutions, effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation to zero.

Highs in the 30s and lows mainly in the 20s are forecast for the weekend and well into next week, which could be jarring on the heels of one our warmest Novembers on record.

With no quick cure for the fast-moving, but slow-to-kill disease, experts said American beech trees could be functionally extinct throughout the state within 10 to 15 years.

Guidance “continues to trend towards a warmer solution for Thursday’s storm,” the National Weather Service said, meaning it's going to be a wet, not white, Thanksgiving.

Said Edward Boscola, Bethlehem water and sewer resources director: “It’s important for everybody to know that the lead levels in the city’s drinking water system are very low."

May, an immature female broad-winged hawk, migrated through Hurricane Milton in Florida last month. The hurricane made landfall Oct. 9 near Siesta Key, Fla., as a devastating Category 3 storm.

Forecasters have turned their attention to the end of next week, saying most model guidance indicates a storm system developing and affecting the East Coast — including the mid-Atlantic —around Thanksgiving Day and into Black Friday.

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo. At about 5:35 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 27, grab your binoculars and watch it disappear.

The drought is far from over, but enough precipitation has fallen to boost the confidence of state officials when it comes to outdoor fires.

After a steady – but not soaking – overnight rain, the area remains on track to break a pair of records that have stood the test of time. But more precipitation is on the way, including snow.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning in effect from Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon for Carbon and Monroe counties in an "elevation-dependent system."

The precautionary measure across Pennsylvania comes at no cost to farmers. While the virus hasn't been reported in commonwealth cattle, other states have seen a marked uptick in cases.

Officials on Monday morning cut the ribbon on its per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, treatment plant at the Bethlehem Landfill in Lower Saucon Township. The system uses air to separate the chemicals from water.