From Mexico all the way up to Alaska, hundreds of gray whales have been washing up ashore. The deaths peaked in 2019, and the numbers were so significant that it led scientists to call it an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) which kicked research into gear. Scientists scrambled to figure out what was going on, and what they found turned their previous understanding on its head. This episode of Weathered explores gray whales' complex food web and how what’s happening in the Arctic may just affect all of us.

Weathered is a show hosted by weather expert Maiya May and produced by Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, what causes them, how they’re changing, and what we can do to prepare.

Seattle Times article on Makah whaling: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...

Joshua Stewart study: https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.11...

*****
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateTerra
*****

Subscribe to PBS Terra so you never miss an episode! https://bit.ly/3mOfd77
And keep up with Weathered and PBS Terra on:
Facebook:   / pbsdigitalstudios  
Twitter:   / pbsds  
Instagram:   / pbsds