An oppressive heat wave is intersecting with a COVID-19 spike in some of the pandemic's hardest-hit U.S. cities, posing another obstacle for officials and health experts who must decide what's riskier: indoor transmission or dangerous temperatures.

In Houston, the heat index Friday was nearing 110 F, prompting Harris County testing sites to ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Tropical Storm Fay has wrung out heavy rains turning streets in Shore towns into a version of Venice by the sea, triggering flood warnings on the mainland, setting a rainfall record Philadelphia, and inundated parts of South Jersey with over 5 inches of rain.

Fay made landfall just north of Atlantic City shortly before 5 p.m., ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tropical Storm Fay has formed just east of the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina, forecasters said Thursday.

In a 5 p.m. update Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said Fay was about 40 miles east of Cape Hatteras moving north at 7 miles per hour with maximum sustained wind speeds of 40 mph.

A Tropical Storm ...Read more

TOKYO -- At least seven people were dead and nine unaccounted for after torrential rains triggered landslides and flooding in southwestern Japan, local media reported on Sunday.

Fourteen others were feared dead as flooding hit a nursing home in a rural area of Kumamoto prefecture, broadcaster NHK reported.

About 50 people were rescued from the...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- A 'historic' outbreak of Saharan dust that is clogging the atmosphere from western Africa to the Caribbean and potentially posing health threats could make it as far as the Midwest.

While the phenomenon is an annual occurrence, "This dust episode has a huge spatial extent," said Andrea Sealy, a meteorologist with the Caribbean ...Read more

MIAMI -- Scientists have been monitoring atmospheric dust on the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados since 1965. The plume currently drifting over the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico is like nothing they've ever seen.

In Haiti, fully cloaked this week under a cloud of hot Saharan dust, residents reported the panoramic view of the capital...Read more

MIAMI -- After months of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic across the nation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has never been more ready for hurricane season.

"Ninety days of COVID-19 response makes us more ready than ever before," FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor said Monday at a news conference at the Miami-Dade County ...Read more

MIAMI -- Tropical depression Cristobal is dousing parts of Mexico and Central America with heavy rain on Friday and is forecast to strengthen into a tropical storm again as it reemerges into the Gulf of Mexico and moves north toward the U.S. Gulf Coast this weekend.

Cristobal could bring heavy rain, tropical storm force winds and flash floods ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The already busy 2020 Atlantic hurricane season officially kicked off Monday with a tropical depression which is soon expected to become Tropical Storm Cristobal.

As of 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the depression was located about 140 miles off the eastern coast of Mexico out over the Bay of Campeche, moving west at 3 mph. It ...Read more

MIAMI -- Monday marks the first official day of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, and forecasters are already monitoring a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that has a high chance of becoming a tropical depression and possibly Tropical Storm Cristobal.

The "large" disturbance is near the west coast of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and is ...Read more

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts this year's upcoming hurricane season could be one for the record books due to unusually warm water temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans. Careful planning and execution is always key to an effective emergency response, but it will be particularly important this season when...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Hail the size of baseballs, softballs and larger pummeled Burkburnett north of Wichita Falls on Friday evening, ripping through roofs and the windshields of cars, according to the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., and social media posts.

Randy Bowers, a weather service meteorologist, said the hail was falling in ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Summer doesn't officially begin for another month. But this weekend and into early next week, it's going to feel a lot like summertime in the Bay Area.

After a string of mild temperatures recently and even a few rainy days, Northern California is about to heat up and dry out, with temperatures in the Bay Area expected to climb ...Read more

NEW DELHI -- Cyclone Amphan, one of the most powerful storms to hit South Asia in recent years, has claimed at least 81 lives and caused large-scale devastation in India and Bangladesh, officials said Thursday.

Amphan destroyed thousands of homes, uprooted trees, submerged villages and left vast areas without access to drinking water, power and...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The federal government's hurricane season forecast, released Thursday, predicts an above-average season, offering little hope of a break from strong storms in an already challenging year.

The forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls for six to 10 hurricanes, of which three to six could ...Read more