Iowa corn, soybeans suffer under growing drought – ‘Hot temperatures and lack of moisture continue to stress corn and soybeans as well as pastures and hay ground’

By Donnelle Eller9 September 2013 (Des Moines Register) – Another week of hot, dry weather continued to punish Iowa’s crops, with 35 percent of Iowa’s corn and 33 percent of soybeans rated good to excellent , a report looking at crop conditions through Sunday shows. Last week, 39 percent of both Iowa corn and soybeans […]

Cost of battling massive Rim fire hits $100 million

By Robert J. Lopez9 September 2013 (Los Angeles Times) – The cost of battling the massive Rim fire raging in and around Yosemite National Park has reached $100 million, federal fire officials said Monday night. The blaze has charred 253,332 acres — or 396 square miles — of brush and timber after erupting in the […]

Climate change dries up India tea production – ‘Even the sheen of tealeaves is lost’

By Bijoyeta Das 9 Sep 2013 Guwahati, India (Al Jazeera) – He sniffs, slurps his tea, swirls and spits a jet of orangish liquid into the tumbler. “Malty, hard,” says Parag Hatibaruah, a professional tea-taster. “But not as strong, brisk and creamy as it was once,” he adds, shaking his head dismissively. Rows of teacups […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico, 1994 and 2013

(NASA) – Elephant Butte Reservoir dwindled to its lowest level in 41 years during the summer of 2013, despite monsoon rains in early July. It had been filled nearly to capacity for most of 1985 to 2000; the left-hand image from 1994 shows it about 89 percent full. At right, it has been reduced to […]

40,000 gallons of water stolen from Humboldt County school and town – ‘It’s disturbing that someone would put their own water needs before children’

By Catherine Wong5 September 2013 (The Times-Standard) – Bridgeville Elementary School was reopened Wednesday after being forced to close for a day when staff discovered up to 20,000 gallons of water had been stolen from an onsite water tank during the Labor Day weekend. ”There were tire tracks in the field on the south side […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of smoke from the Rim Fire filling Yosemite Valley, 31 August 2013

By Holli Riebeek2 September 2013 (NASA) – Smoke from the Rim Fire choked Yosemite National Park during the busy Labor Day Weekend. Air quality reached unhealthy levels from Yosemite to the San Joaquin Valley, warned the National Weather Service in an air quality alert. Since fine particles in smoke can irritate the eyes and respiratory […]

New Zealand has warmest winter on record in 2013

Average temperature over winter in South Pacific nation was highest since record-keeping began in 1909 Wellington, 3 September 2013 (AP) – Winter lacked an Antarctic chill this year in New Zealand, to record effect. Scientists said on Tuesday that the South Pacific nation had its warmest winter since record-keeping began more than a century ago. […]

U.N. researchers: Global warming clock is at ‘five minutes to midnight’

GENEVA, Genève, 2 September 2013 (AFP) – Humanity has pushed the world’s climate system to the brink, leaving itself only scant time to act, the head of the UN’s group of climate scientists said on Monday. “We have five minutes before midnight,” warned Rajendra Pachauri, whose organisation will this month release the first volume of […]

Video: Time lapse of Rim Fire viewed from Yosemite National Park, August 2013

28 August 2013 (USFS) – Time-lapse photography shows various perspectives of the 2013 Rim Fire, as viewed from Yosemite National Park. The first part of this video is from the Crane Flat Helibase. The fire is currently burning in wilderness and is not immediately threatening visitors or employees. The second half of the video is […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of Rim fire entering Yosemite Valley, 26 August 2013

By Adam Voiland27 August 2013 (NASA) – On 26 August 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of the Rim fire burning in and near Yosemite National Park. Red outlines indicate hot spots where MODIS detected unusually warm surface temperatures associated with fire. Rim Fire, California Technorati Tags: […]

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