Sesame Street is helping children face a growing reality: extreme weather. The beloved children's program released a new special, «Storm on Sesame Street,» on Aug. 3 that follows Elmo and his friends as they prepare for a powerful storm and help their neighborhood recover in the aftermath. The episode is part of a broader initiative designed to give young children a trusted way to understand weather events that are becoming increasingly common.
«Extreme weather is now a reality for many families, and young children need support they can understand and trust,» Joseph Giraldi, chief operating officer of Sesame Workshop, said in a press release. He described the effort as the organization's extreme weather response initiative, which includes the storm special, year-round resources, and community outreach. «This initiative reflects our commitment to showing up for children and families when they need it most,» he added.
In the special, Elmo and his father help distribute food and water to neighbors, talk openly about the big emotions the storm brings up, and find ways to assist friends when the storm leaves Sesame Street unrecognizable. At one point, when the power goes out and Elmo's courage falters, his father steps in with words of encouragement and a calming exercise.
The episode is meant to open a channel of communication between adults and children before an extreme weather event happens, experts say. Samantha Harrington, director of audience experience for Yale Climate Connections, said emergency plans often fall off people's radars. «People don't always make great decisions when they're in an emergency situation, or when they're stressed,» she said. «As much as you can make that decision-making earlier before the emergency happens, then you're going to be a lot better prepared to react and respond in a way that is going to be the safest and calmest for you and your child.»
Adam Rainear, an associate professor of communication and media at West Chester University whose work focuses on climate communications, said the special covers the essentials without overwhelming children. «It's covering all of the bases,» he said. «It's giving the messaging so that kids are aware and alert, but also not making them afraid of everything around them.» While Elmo and his friend Abby acknowledge their fear, the episode emphasizes courage, and shows how a trusted adult can help a child regain calm.
Sesame Street first dealt with extreme weather in 2001 in an episode titled «Sesame Street Gets Through a Storm,» featuring Big Bird rebuilding his nest after a hurricane destroyed it. That episode was re-aired in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. In the years since, climate disasters have become harder for most Americans to ignore. The United Nations has documented a «staggering rise» in climate-related disasters in the 21st century.
The scale of the problem is considerable. According to an October 2024 YouGov poll, nearly one in five Americans have had to evacuate their homes because of extreme weather conditions. Children born in 2020 are projected to experience up to seven times more extreme weather events than those born in 1960.
To support families beyond the screen, Sesame Workshop plans to provide a printed and digital storybook to help children heal when the things they love are lost, along with articles and activities addressing environmental stressors such as heat and poor air quality. The organization also intends to distribute «go bags» with essential supplies to support families during evacuations and periods of displacement.
The need for such preparation is urgent. In a 2025 survey of 2,000 adults by Talker Research, 90 percent said it is critical to be prepared for extreme weather, but only 46 percent reported having an emergency plan in place.
Tina Grotzer, a principal research scientist at Harvard University who studies the intersection of climate change and education, said she hopes future episodes will be more explicit about the connection between extreme weather and climate change, which is not mentioned in the special. «This is a generation of kids for whom extreme weather is becoming more and more common, and they have to somehow walk this balance of normalizing kids' experiences, but also helping kids to know that this is only the new normal in terms of recent times,» she said. Grotzer added that while the weather arriving today cannot be changed, collective action over time can help care for the planet.