It's starting. Satellite images have revealed that the Arctic ice has retreated from its neighboring continents. The region has become an island for the first time in recorded human history. A further sign indicating that the North Pole will lose its ice this year. More details in the full article.

Vocabulary word for the day: Mammatus, meaning, essentially, "boob-like." Just to be clear: this is a science post on meteorology, not Latin... and not biology.

The Mammatus cloud is an unusual formation that makes the sky looks like it evolved udders. Although not uncommon, few would have seen this kind of formation because it forms during thunderstorms, and will last no more than five to ten minutes. More exposure in the full article.

Good news, 2008 is set to be the coldest year this century! Hold yer horses though - remember, this century is only a few years old. This year is actually also set to be the 10th warmest year since 1850. Mother Nature has a weird sense of humor that way. More in the full article.

While the talk on global warming is all the rage these days, one scientist says the phenomenon isn't to blame for everything. Tom Knutsen put together a study that leads him to believe that the rise in hurricane frequency is due to multi-decade weather patterns, not warmer seawater. More in the full article.

Who needs rain dances in this day and age? Scientists have come up with a way to induce electrical activity in thunderclouds by using lasers. Needless to say, it's an electrifying discovery. More details in the full article.

China is quite literally pulling out the heavy artillery to ensure that this year's Beijing Olympics go off without a hitch.

The event's official had unveiled their plans to seed any incoming clouds in the city with a combination of rockets, cannons, and even aircraft. More details on Beijing's war on clouds are available in the full article.

Have you been feeling a bit warm lately? You may eventually get some relief - UN meteorologists have said that temperatures this year will decrease slightly. This change in climate is attributed to the La Nina phenomenon, which will likely make itself felt well into the summer.  More "cool" news follows after the jump.

Meteorologists and scientists cannot keep tabs on our weather with 100% certainty, because they could only base their predictions off a "model" agreed upon by the world's meteorological experts and processed by the world's most powerful computers. Now we might have to review our current climate change model, because the new study  conducted by the University of Buffalo researchers believe that the new data gathered from ice sheets in Greenland might warrant it. Check out the full article for more details.

Global warming has been a hot topic for a few years now and while efforts by numerous organizations have made headway in global awareness, one question is yet to be answered: are we too late? In a new research, scientists have calculated that we may see long-term consequences on the Earth's climate due to human activity as early as the next decade. Details in the full article.

Felt a little hot under the collar this year? Well, it wasn't just you - this year really was hot; marked by droughts, heat waves and floods. It's warm enough to be included in one of the US' top 10 warmest years since 1895. The records are still waiting for the last few weeks of 2007 to pass before they actually include this year in the top 10. On the bright side, it was a great year to get a tan.