Environment & Science

Weeks away from the official start of winter, the National Weather Service has established new winter storm warning criteria, officials confirmed late Monday.

City council on Wednesday will consider overriding Mayor Matt Tuerk's veto of council’s approved 2024 no-tax-increase budget, which did not include the position. Advocates still hope to find a way to a hire a sustainability manager.

Brad Klein reviews the week's astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s "Backyard Astronomy Guy."

A November 11 Facebook post showed a map of Pennsylvania and the surrounding mid-Atlantic region being walloped by snowfall in the weeks ahead. It's "wrong" and "without context," a local meteorologist said.

Edward Boscola, city water and sewer resources director, said Wednesday that a roughly $2 increase in monthly sewer charges would keep the capital fund in good shape, minimize borrowing and contribute to upcoming projects at the wastewater facility.

The Lehigh County Authority released the estimate and a schedule of public meetings to review the plan and collect feedback from affected residents. The first meeting is scheduled for 6 tonight in South Whitehall Township.

Lafayette College's commercial composting vessel was placed in June. It comes more than a decade after the college first started it's composting program, with the dining hall using fully compostable packaging and cutlery.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection policy now recognizes 1,965 environmental justice areas in Pennsylvania. More than 200 are in rural counties.

Greater Easton Development Partnership has gotten agricultural grants totaling $60,000 from the Pennsylvania Farm Bill's Urban Agriculture Infrastructure Grant.

The first new building on Muhlenberg’s campus in more than a decade, the Fahy Commons for Public Engagement and Innovation, 2400 W. Chew St., has racked up three different sustainability awards and certifications.

Work is underway to restore a half-mile section of the Monocacy Creek that runs through the Archibald Johnston Conservation Area. Officials aim to improve the stream’s health by restoring the natural flow.

Brad Klein reviews the week’s astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s ‘Backyard Astronomy Guy,’ Marty McGuire. This week, they talk about the upcoming Lehigh Valley Space Fest.

Leaf-peeping season is right around the corner in the Valley, moving from north to south as temperatures drop into fall across the commonwealth. Here's why the region could see an earlier, shorter season.

The box tree moth, a highly destructive, invasive insect, was discovered for the first time in Pennsylvania, in two cemeteries in Erie County. A quarantine has been issued.

The “Stanley Jr. Kids Wheelbarrow and 7-piece Garden Set" has been recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission after the paint on the hoe and rake were found to contain lead levels exceeding the federal content ban.

Brad Klein reviews the week’s astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s ‘Backyard Astronomy Guy,’ Marty McGuire. This week, they look ahead to the Autumnal Equinox.

SpaceX’s capsule Polaris Dawn splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico in the predawn darkness early Sunday. Returning to Earth were two SpaceX engineers, a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot and tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman of the Lehigh Valley. Isaacman became only the 264th person to perform a spacewalk.

A Lehigh University graduate last year recorded a new species of mushroom at Wildlands Conservancy's South Mountain Preserve.

Monarch butterflies are starting to migrate through the Lehigh Valley. An annual tagging program, held at Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center, helps conservation efforts.

Called the Recovery in Nature initiative, two state departments have joined forces to create regional-specific partnerships to bolster substance use recovery efforts while strengthening all residents’ connection to nature.

While Tropical Storm Francine and its remnants will not be moving this way, it will play a role in the Lehigh Valley’s weather pattern for the next few days.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America released its report of the most challenging places to live with asthma. The release coincides with peak asthma season in September.