Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Denver news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Des Moines news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Tampa Bay news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Charlotte news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Reindeer in a Swedish corral wait to be released onto winter pastures on Nov. 30. Photo: Malin Moberg/AP
Reindeer in Sweden's Arctic are hungry, the AP reports.
Why it matters: Climate change is altering weather patterns, choking off herds' food supply.
What's happening: The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe.
- Unusually early snowfall in autumn was followed by rain that froze, trapping food under a thick layer of ice.
- "Rain-on-snow" events are having devastating effects: The food is still there, but the reindeer can't reach it.
- The animals grow weaker, and females sometimes abort their calves.
- Some retreat to the mountains where predators abound, and the risk of avalanches is great.
Elderly herders recall that they once had bad winters every decade or so.
- But Niila Inga, whose community herds about 8,000 reindeer year-round, said that "extreme and strange weather are getting more and more normal, it happens several times a year."
Go deeper: Key science report shows "unprecedented" changes to oceans and frozen regions