Environment & Science

From 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, July 21, the Rodale Institute’s headquarters at 611 Siegfriedale Road in Kutztown will be open to the public for its annual field day.

The newest proposal, one involving 848.47 acres near the landfill, may also receive a public hearing at a later date. The possibility to rezone 275.7 acres will see discussion on Aug. 30 at 9 a.m.

Mostly sunny skies on Tuesday may be dimmed slightly as another plume of wildfire smoke drifts over the region, the National Weather Service warned.

Storms pounded eastern Pennsylvania, including the Lehigh Valley, with widespread flooding before the heavy rainfall pushed to the east and gradually weakened overnight.

Berks County recorded the highest rainfall totals locally, with storm total accumulations at 10 inches near Oley Township and surrounding areas just after 5 p.m., according to social media reports.

It is predicted that there will be numerous flash floods on Sunday, affecting the area.

Plans to demolish three dams in the Easton area on Bushkill Creek are set to improve water quality, remove hazards and allow species to once again move upstream

While the Lehigh Valley is no stranger to the effects of climate change, the new record is a startling reminder about how how global warming has local impacts.

“A very hot, soupy environment is going to lead to high precipitable water content and that means heavy rainfall,” one forecaster said of Friday's Lehigh Valley weather forecast.

The start of Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s annual hawk watch is just over a month out, and preparations are well underway. A tradition in its 64th year, volunteers count birds of prey as they migrate along the raptor "superhighway" in the Lehigh Valley’s backyard.

The National Weather Service posted a flood watch starting at 6 a.m. Friday for the Philadelphia region and its suburbs.

Funding was awarded through the Lehigh Valley Greenways Mini Grant Program. The program aims to protect and promote natural resources through the implementation of ready-to-go, single-year projects.

With other communities around the state adopting bans on plastic bags, Lower Saucon could be on its way to something similar. if approved, it would involve a transition process to show shoppers the bigger picture and give time for businesses to properly offload plastic bags on hand.

The National Weather Service expanded an excessive heat warning into the Lehigh Valley on Wednesday, calling for dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 105 degrees. A severe weather threat will follow.

Allentown and Easton have been paired with an engineering company to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It's Allentown's first time, but Easton's second, in the program.

As of Tuesday, the Lehigh Valley was suffocating in its thirteenth day of 90-plus temperatures this summer, well on the way to surpassing the average of 14.42 days in the 90s for records that date back to 1912.

The Northampton County Coroner has identified an individual who drowned and later died due to complications of drowning after spending time on the Delaware River this past weekend.

Environmentalists say the Lehigh River is the cleanest its been in 175 years. A river snorkeling program at Lehigh Gap Nature Centers encourages residents to explore their local waterways and track river health.

The Lehigh Valley will face “an active week in terms of weather hazards,” the National Weather Service said early Monday, with the remnants of Beryl expected to impact the area.

This week Watching the Skies explores the ice giant, Uranus.

Another heat advisory has made its way to the Lehigh Valley, accompanied by an air quality alert. While temperatures aren't expected to be as high as the last heat wave, the heat index could still hit triple-digits Monday and Tuesday.