Raging Fire Season Highlights Human Cost of Firefighting
Earlier this month, a 20-year-old digging a fire line in the Idaho mountains was killed by a falling tree, making her the 12th person to die in forest firefighting operations around the country this year. When I attended her funeral a few days later, nearly 300 of her fellow U.S. Forest Service firefighters lined up outside Moscow, Idaho’s, Church … Read More
Isaac Will Lessen Drought, but Only in Some Places
The U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday was different from most such reports, in that it was essentially out of date before it was published. As always, the monitor was based on dryness readings as of 7 A.M. the previous Tuesday, and it’s unusual for conditions to change drastically in such a short time. In fact, the newest drought map showed… Read More
The Killer Drought of 2012 Eases — But Not By Much
The historic drought of 2012 continues to parch the nation, according to the latest version of the U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday. Although conditions have improved somewhat in the hard-hit states of Ohio and Indiana, nearly 53 percent of the U.S. remains at some level in drought as of August 21, the most recent date for which statistics … Read More
Lack of Warning on Drought Reflects Forecasting Flaws
In May, the U.S. Agriculture Department predicted a record corn yield after farmers planted the largest area of corn and soybeans since 1937. Three months later, after a searing drought engulfed a wide swath of the continental U.S., those crops lie in ruin. Despite all of the resources at forecasters’ disposal, the worst drought to strike the U.S.… Read More
Drought May Ease in Coming Weeks; Too Late for Crops
The epic drought that has gripped large parts of the U.S. for much of the summer, and which now ranks as the nation’s fifth worst on record, should ease in the coming weeks, according to a report on Thursday from the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service… Read More
2012 Drought Inches Up In U.S. Historical Rankings
The drought footprint is currently the largest in the 13-year record of the U.S. Drought Monitor. To compare this drought with droughts that occurred prior to this period of record, climate scientists use drought indices such as the Palmer Drought Severity Index, or PDSI, which measures the balance between moisture demand and moisture supply.… Read More
Planet Records Fourth-Warmest July on Record
The globally averaged temperature over land areas was the third highest for July on record. For Northern Hemisphere land areas only, however, it was the warmest July on record, which is significant since this is where most of the planet’s land masses are located.… Read More
Life Out West and On the Edge (of Wildfire)
When the Waldo Canyon fire ignited in the mountains near Colorado Springs this June, Cindy and Mark Maluschka started packing. The evacuation zone mapped out by city officials ended two streets away from them, but the Maluschkas have seen fires spread faster than expected before. The 2002 Hayman Fire — until this summer, the most destructive … Read More
