drought News

Australia Wine Faces ‘Toughest Year’ in Memory After Fires and Drought

The choking smoke that blanketed Australia’s east and south coast during devastating wildfires is roiling some of its storied wineries. Some winemakers are scrapping vintages this year after grapes were hit by smoke taint, which gives wines a burnt, ashy …

Climate Models Are Running Red Hot, and Scientists Don’t Know Why

There are dozens of climate models, and for decades they’ve agreed on what it would take to heat the planet by about 3° Celsius. It’s an outcome that would be disastrous—flooded cities, agricultural failures, deadly heat—but there’s been a grim …

Thousands Evacuated as Wildfires Hit Southeast Australia

Thousands of holiday-makers have evacuated a popular tourist spot in southeast Australia as a heatwave and strong winds fuel wildfires sweeping through the region. But with temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) Monday and blazes closing sections of …

California Threats Jump from Fires to Floods as Wet Season Hits

California’s climate threats could soon be jumping from wildfires and blackouts to floods and mudslides as the wet season kicks into gear. About half the water that falls in the state in any given year does so in the 90 …

Flood, Fire and Plague: Climate Change Blamed for Disasters

SINGAPORE — Extreme floods in Venice, fires in Australia and even an outbreak of plague in China have been attributed to climate change this week, while researchers have warned that global warming could saddle future generations with life-long illness. Venice …

Doing Business in California Costs One Blackout a Week

It was only expected to happen a couple times a year — and just as a last resort. That’s what utility giant PG&E Corp. originally said 13 months ago when it outlined plans to stage mass blackouts in Northern California …

Fire-Ravaged Forests Get Help from Pine Cone Collectors

ALONG THE BURNT MESA TRAIL, N.M. — With snow ready to fall, the scramble was on to collect as many ponderosa pine cones as possible. A crew outfitted with spurs, ropes and hard hats scaled hefty tree trunks and used …

Fire Suppression, Drought Increasing Mortality Among Trees

An Oregon State University forester says dry winters and long periods of drought, combined with fire suppression, are affecting the health of Central Oregon trees. Nicole Strong, a forestry and natural resources extension agent for OSU, described an increased amount …

Cities are Sucking our Countryside Dry, Scientists Say

TBILISI — Expanding cities are sucking up ever more water, exacerbating the effect of climate change and threatening to create a “dusty and deserted” rural hinterland, scientists said on Thursday. An international team of researchers calculated that globally at least …

Change in Location of Ocean Mixing That Drives Climate Found

One of the key drivers of the world’s climate is an area in the North Atlantic Ocean where warmer and colder water mix and swirl. When scientists went for their first close look at this critical underwater dynamo, they found …