By Donna Blankinship and Brian Skoloff23 August 2015 OKANOGAN, Washington (AP) – The massive cloud of smoke began to lift over Washington wildfires on Sunday. But as air quality improves, the fire’s behavior could become more erratic and intense, fire officials said. “It’s like a flue opening in a fireplace,” said Suzanne Flory, spokeswoman for […]
21 August 2015 (Sky News US) – Engineers have said that part of the Mississippi delta must be left to deteriorate completely if New Orleans is to be saved from another powerful hurricane. Thousands of miles of wetland between the city and the Gulf of Mexico, which once provided a natural buffer to surges created […]
By Katie Herzog 21 August 2015 (Grist) – Get ready, folks! The most magical time of year is almost upon us. That’s right: Burning Man. Lest you mistake me for a tech billionaire with a penchant for fuzzy boots, hula hoops, group showers, and dudes named Dusty Unicorn — au contraire. The reason I love […]
By Ezra David Romero17 August 2015 (NPR) – The giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada are one of America’s treasures, but for the first time in Sequoia National Park’s history, the trees are showing visible signs of exhaustion due to the drought. On a hike last summer, a scientist noticed that the needles of the […]
19 August 2015 (JPL) – As Californians continue pumping groundwater in response to the historic drought, the California Department of Water Resources today released a new NASA report showing land in the San Joaquin Valley is sinking faster than ever before, nearly 2 inches (5 centimeters) per month in some locations. The report, Progress Report: […]
By Drew Mikkelsen21 August 2015 OMAK, Washington (KING 5 News) – With wildfires straining resources, Washington officials say that for the first time in state history they’re coordinating help from residents who have and can operate equipment like backhoes and bulldozers to dig fire lines. The Department of Natural Resources says its command posts have […]
18 August 2015 (ABC) – As wildfires continue to burn dozens of homes and force thousands of evacuations around the Pacific Northwest, NASA has released images illustrating the massive plumes of smoke and charred Earth that can be seen from space. Wildfires have burned around 7 million acres, according to NASA, which is 2 million […]
By Rob Kauder19 August 2015 SPOKANE, Washington (KXLY) – Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said Wednesday evening three firefighters have been killed and three to four more have been injured while battling raging wildfires. Rogers called the dire situation these firefighters faced near Twisp a “Hell Storm,” with the fire racing across the ground, being […]
19 August 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – Famous Northwest weatherman Cliff Mass recently posted about wildfires in Washington State (A Real Surprise: FEWER Acres Than Normal Have Burned over the Northwest This Year). Professor Mass shows some great graphs from the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center of the Bureau of Land Management: Fuels and Fire Danger [pdf]. […]
By Sean Breslin10 August 2015 (weather.com) – One of America’s 10 largest cities is swiftly losing its river, and the loss is having major effects on the ecosystem around it. The San Jose Mercury News said eight miles of the 14-mile long Guadalupe River that runs through San Jose, California, has now dried up, another […]
