drought News

Unstable Weather Will Continue to Fuel Huge Oregon Blaze

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Dry, unstable and windy conditions will keep fueling a massive wildfire in southern Oregon, forecasters said, as the largely uncontained blaze grows by miles each day. The Bootleg Fire was just one of numerous wildfires burning …

U.S. Initiates Emergency Crop Insurance Procedures in States Hit by Extreme Drought

Responding to extreme drought conditions in parts of the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is authorizing emergency procedures to help agricultural producers. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is working with crop insurance companies to streamline and accelerate the …

Summer Is Already Off to a Wild Start

Extreme temperatures in China coupled with a lack of hydro-power forced blackouts in some of its largest industrial cities last month. A rare and short-lived subtropical storm popped up in the South Atlantic off Argentina and Uruguay. And record heat …

Wild Weather Plagues North America Grain Crops as Demand Surges

The world is counting on farmers in North America for big harvests of everything from corn to canola this year. Due to weird weather patterns, growers will likely come up short. The U.S. and Canada are seeing unusual variability in …

Drought Woes in Dry US West Raise July 4 Fireworks Fears

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Many Americans aching for normalcy as pandemic restrictions end are looking forward to traditional Fourth of July fireworks. But with a historic drought in the U.S. West and fears of another devastating wildfire season, officials …

California Farmers Told Drought Could Cut Off Their Water

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of Central California farmers were warned Tuesday that they could face water cutoffs this summer as the state deals with a drought that already has curtailed federal and state irrigation supplies. The State Water Resources …

Brutal Heatwave to Descend on U.S. West, Prompting Fire Warnings

LOS ANGELES — A heatwave already punishing parts of the U.S. Southwest on Monday was expected to move into California this week, prompting the forecasters to warn of health and fire dangers. A high-pressure ridge that built over southwestern deserts …

Wildfires Smolder Across Dry, Drought-Stricken Southwest

A wildfire in Arizona that had neighboring New Mexico breathing in smoke was one of several blazes scorching the drought-stricken Southwest, signaling what could be a devastating summer. Residents in New Mexico’s largest city woke up Wednesday shrouded again in …

Global Food Costs Surge to Decade High as Drought Parches Crops

Global food prices have extended their rally to the highest in almost a decade, heightening concerns over bulging grocery bills at a time when economies are struggling to overcome the Covid-19 crisis. A United Nations gauge of world food costs …

California’s Epic Drought Is Parching Reservoirs and Worrying Farmers

There is dry, and then there is desiccated. As any movie fan knows from the classic film Chinatown, California is an infamously thirsty place. But this year, even by its own standards, the state is shockingly, scarily parched. So far …