Climatologists at Colorado State University are confirming what many Coloradans already suspect — almost the entire state is consumed by drought. About 98 percent of the state is experiencing varying levels of drought, according to CSU, with the most severe in the Arkansas Basin, where drought ranges from D1, or “moderate” drought to D3, or [...]
Signal: dry weather
986 wildfires in Flordia so far this year, as drought drives blazes
The Florida Forest Service is predicting a difficult wildfire season if dry conditions persist.Those conditions have created four wildfires in Putnam County that have burned about 900 acres, according to figures provided by the state. In addition, statewide, the dry conditions and the lack of tropical systems last year have helped cause 986 wildfires that [...]
Hurricane force winds, dry conditions drive wildfire in Reno
Firefighters worked early Friday to hold the line on a fast-moving brush fire that tore through the Reno area, destroying more than 20 homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee. The raging wildfire was pushed by high winds Thursday and raced across a tinder-dry landscape south of Reno, destroying homes and other buildings as [...]
Lowest early January snow levels ever in Sierra Nevada
As 2012 begins a possible drought is looming over California and, again, the Southwest. Snow depth in the Sierra Nevada is at its lowest on record for this time of year early January and no precipitation is in sight for the next two weeks.
Texas has hottest June-August on record in the U.S.
Texas just finished the hottest June through August on record in the U.S., the National Weather Service said Thursday. Weather service meteorologist Victor Murphy told The Associated Press that Texas’ 86.8 average beat out Oklahoma’s 85.2 degrees in 1934. That Dust Bowl year is now third on the list for the three-month span, behind No. [...]
Both drought and extreme rains hit U.S. in July
More of the United States was in exceptional drought in July 2011 than in any other month in the past 12 years, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The worst of the drought is spread across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Louisiana. But 26 percent of the lower [...]
Record drought drying out Texas, fueling record wildfires
March 2011 was the driest on record for the state of Texas. Parts of west Texas received no measurable rainfall during the month and less than an inch of precipitation over the past six months. The whole state settled into drought, with extreme to exceptional drought claiming many areas. March also brought exceptionally warm temperatures, [...]
April wildfires worst on record in the U.S.
According to the Interagency Fire Center, wildfires in 2011 have already burned nearly 2.3 million acres in the U.S. This is the greatest acreage on record so early in the year, and is more area than burned all of last year. The largest U.S. acreage to burn since 1960 was the 9.9 million acres that [...]
NASA: Unusually high temperatures driving Texas fires
So far in 2011, more than 1.4 million acres have burned in Texas. Some 800 fires have occurred throughout the state, burning 401 structures and costing two firefighters their lives. Why is fire activity so extreme in Texas this year? This image, made with data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s [...]
Climate change fueling Texas fires
More than 1 million acres of Texas plains and forests has gone up in smoke this month as hundreds of fires blazed through the Lone Star State. Gusting winds, statewide drought and low humidity have created tinderbox conditions that state and federal firefighters are still struggling to contain. Lacking a forecast of steady downpours to [...]
