Environment & Science

Officials gathered at the Lehigh Valley Zoo Thursday evening for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of Rothrock Red Panda Peak. It's the first time the zoo has had red pandas in residence.

The complaint alleges Sunshine Act violations from the township supervisors and legal filings from the township solicitor with no official approval beforehand.

The Storm Prediction Center has maintained a marginal risk (1 out of 5) for the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas Thursday, with the primary threat being damaging winds.

Environmental and county officials this week began dismantling a dam over Bushkill Creek in an effort to restore the creek. The removal will improve water quality, stormwater function and connectivity for fish and other organisms.

“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.

Meteorologist Bobby Martrich of EPAWA Weather Consulting highlighted the area as one to watch, thanks to the setup of a “thermal gradient” or baroclinic boundary as the storm moves through.

This week, Brad Klein shares his thoughts about the commonly heard phrase, "meteoric rise."

The Lehigh Valley is under a winter weather advisory from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, with total snow and sleet accumulations of 2 to 5 inches expected, with the greatest amounts at higher elevations.

While the program has expanded into the Lehigh Valley over the past few years, and is growing in popularity, officials said demand has also increased this year as federal programs and initiatives were canceled or paused.

The Lehigh Valley is in line for potential snowfall Tuesday as a coastal storm takes aim at the region, but there's a lot of uncertainty at this point," forecasters say.

After persistently dry, windy weather last year triggered concerns over the longevity of holiday trees, this year’s crop is shaping up well, Lehigh Valley growers said, with many different varieties available.

The Kline’s Island Sewer System, or KISS, regional wastewater plan has been approved by more than a dozen Lehigh County municipalities. Now, it's up to the state Department of Environmental Protection to approve it.

The survey, part of a project out of Lehigh’s Climate Resilience Center, is open until mid-December. As an incentive, residents who complete the survey will be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card.

This week on Watching the Skies, WLVR's Brad Klein and Bethlehem's "Backyard Astronomy Guy" Marty McGuire dissect online misinformation circulating about an approaching comet. The third interstellar comet ever detected, combined with the long-running government shutdown, slowed NASA's response to the solar phenomenon, only fueling theories about the comet.

Amid the celebrations and family gatherings, residents can be mindful of their decisions this Thanksgiving, instituting small changes that could make a big difference during one of the most wasteful times of the year.

The nonprofit water and wastewater utility on Friday asked customers in its service area to voluntarily reduce their water use by 5% amid persistently dry conditions.

Lehigh Valley Planning Commission on Thursday reviewed a draft of its Industrial Land Use Guide, highlighting key points of concern and some potential mitigation strategies to address bigger, more utility-intensive uses.