CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — The cotton's gone.

The alfalfa barely exists.

"Can you even call this a farm?" asked Nancy Caywood, standing on a rural stretch of land her Texas grandfather settled nearly a century ago, drawn by cheap prices and feats of engineering that brought water from afar to irrigate central Arizona's arid soil.

On the family's ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — A new tropical wave emerged over the mid-Atlantic Wednesday morning with odds of becoming the subsequent tropical depression or storm, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 2 p.m. EDT update. Meanwhile, hurricane specialists are waiting on another wave to roll off the African coast and have increased its odds of ...Read more

MIAMI — Just a few weeks shy of the peak of hurricane season, NOAA released an updated prediction for the number of storms to expect this year — and it’s a bit higher.

The latest prediction calls for 15 to 21 named storms, an uptick from the May update that called for 13 to 20 named storms. NOAA’s prediction for the number of hurricanes...Read more

The annual snapshot of California's electricity generation shows how much drought conditions can affect the state's power mix.

In-state hydroelectricity generation in 2020 dropped 44.3 percent from the year before, according to numbers recently released by the California Energy Commission. All told, 21,414 gigawatt-hours came from a combination...Read more

CAJEME, Mexico — In the parched hills of southern Sonora, Marco Antonio Gutierrez paced around a clearing, counting the dead.

There were seven rotting carcasses — jutting ribs and shriveled hides — and two sun-bleached skulls. Nine cows, felled by heat and hunger.

"There's nothing for them to eat," said Gutierrez, a wide-brimmed hat ...Read more

As a deadly heat wave scorched the Pacific Northwest in June, overwhelming hospital emergency rooms in a region unaccustomed to triple-digit temperatures, doctors resorted to a grim but practical tool to save lives: human body bags filled with ice and water.

Officials at hospitals in Seattle and Renton, Washington, said that as more people ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The atmosphere is often described as an ocean of air, and in terms of the fear and terror they instill, tornadoes thus could be likened to sharks.

Most metaphors being imprecise, the big difference in this instance would be that tornadoes are far more dangerous, as the Philadelphia region just rediscovered.

The raw numbers ...Read more

ZHENGZHOU, China — The mayor of this flooded city arrived at the tunnel at midnight. Muddy water poured across the road as workers drained the six-lane-wide underpass. Dozens of onlookers gathered, hoping to glimpse what lay beneath the water. Police shooed them away.

Chen Yuanqiu lived nearby. He had witnessed the flood and knew that during ...Read more

SEATTLE — Naturalist Jeff Brown bounded up a ladder, cradling a baby hawk into his torso as if it were a delicate football.

Brown, who helps rehabilitate wildlife for the PAWS Wildlife Center, stopped about 10 rungs up on this July morning, leaned his weight against a towering maple and slowly stretched out his hand.

The hawk's talons curled...Read more

Reading the news over the past month — or maybe just stepping outside — you could get the sense that something has gone wrong with the weather. One heat wave after another has struck the West Coast, which, as a result, is now on fire. Western Europe has been deluged by rain, killing hundreds. Across Asia, from Japan to Turkey, temperature ...Read more

TULELAKE, Calif. — It’s a strange place to find fish, deep in the high desert, where drought-baked earth butts against scrubby mountains.

But water spews from the hot springs on Ron Barnes’ land near the California-Oregon border, pure and perfect for rearing c’waam and koptu, two kinds of endangered suckerfish sacred to Native American ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — After a furious start to hurricane season, an eerie calm reigns over the tropics.

No storms have appeared in the Atlantic since Tropical Storm Elsa struck northwest Florida two weeks ago. And nothing is expected for another week or more, as a global climate system causes air to sink over the Atlantic, suppressing the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Amid record-breaking temperatures and raging wildfires, California’s energy operator has issued another Flex Alert in an effort to stabilize the state’s electric grid.

Over the weekend, a fast-moving wildfire in Oregon knocked out some transmission lines that carry electricity into California, reducing power supplies by as ...Read more

Anthony Wainscott has known his share of hardship, living the last two years on the streets of California's Antelope Valley. But his personal misery index reached a new plateau during a weekend of record-setting heat.

“It’s extra hot. It’s abnormally hot,” said Wainscott, crouched in the meager shade of a palm tree on the edge of a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A blistering heat wave set new record high temperatures across California on Saturday — including 120 degrees in Palm Springs — and authorities urged people to conserve electricity as the extreme conditions continue to tax the state’s power grid.

State energy officials announced a Flex Alert, asking residents to conserve ...Read more

An intense heat wave brought dangerous conditions to inland and desert regions of Southern California on Saturday.

State energy officials announced a Flex Alert, asking residents to conserve power and set air conditioners to 78 degrees or higher from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday because of wildfire threats.

By noon Saturday, inland valleys from ...Read more