Two items out on the blogosphere today that are worth noting:

• The journal Nature has published two new studies linking global warming with increases in extreme weather events -- particularly heavy precipitation. The new papers add to a mounting pile of evidence -- reviewed in Frontier Group reports here and here -- that human-induced global warming is changing patterns of extreme weather events worldwide. Joe Romm has a good summary of the studies, and a review of previous research on the topic, here.
• Recent polling by the American Lung Association reveals that Americans actually like clean air, support the work of the EPA, and prefer stronger, rather than weaker, protections against air pollution, including pollution that contributes to global warming. David Roberts at Grist has the run-down and details here.

Neither of these findings about the impacts of global warming and Americans' support for a cleaner environment are at all surprising. One hopes that these latest studies can cut through the fog of media ignorance and special interest rhetoric to actually influence the decisions of our public officials.