Weather & Climate

April 25 (UPI) — Two wildfires in Georgia have burned thousands of acres and dozens of homes over a couple of days amid extreme drought in the Southeast.

The fires — the Highway 82 Fire in Brantley County and the Pineland Road Fire in Clinch County — have between them scorched more than 40,000 acres and destroyed at least 120 homes, ActionNewsJax and CBS News reported.

Each of the two fires is roughly 10% contained, and are among a host of blazes being fought in southeast Georgia and northeast Florida, where the weather is not expected to cool off any time soon.

“So we got the two most dangerous, biggest, problematic fires anywhere in the United States in the small area we’re having to fight,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters on Friday.

“We need a change in the weather, but until we get that, we’re just going to stay after these fires and do everything we can to get them contained,” he said.

The Highway 82 fire, which grew overnight by a few thousand acres, has destroyed around 90 homes and businesses, is thought to have been started by a mylar balloon landing on a power line that started to spark, News4Jax reported.

The Highway 82 Fire so far has burned nearly 10,000 acres, prompting mandatory evacuations in some parts of Brantley County and voluntary evacuations across the entire county, according to reports.

Brantley’s county manager, Joey Cason, told reporters that strong winds are expected in the area later today and recommended that people follow mandatory evacuation orders if they are issued.

The Pineland Road Fire, which is burning on what is privately owned forest, was started by sparks from somebody welding a gate, ABC News reported.

That fire has already burned more than 32,000 acres and is experiencing the same weather conditions as neighboring Brantley County.

April 18 (UPI) — Tornadoes swept through several midwestern cities Friday leaving destruction and devastation in their wakes as a massive storm system tore through the area.

Rochester, Minn., Lena, Ill., and Ringle, Wis., were hit by tornados on Friday.

Rochester saw winds at about 130 mph. The NWS has teams surveying the damage in Minnesota and Wisconsin Saturday, CBS News reported.

No injuries have been reported, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said. But damage to homes and vehicles was extensive in Rochester.

No injuries were reported in Lena, Ill., either, though there is extensive damage. The village in northwestern Illinois is completely blocked, the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook.

“There is no way to get into town due to trees and wires down,” the post said. “Emergency Services are assisting people per Sheriff [Steve] Stovall.”

“We are extremely fortunate that this storm did not result in loss of life or serious injury,” Stovall said in a statement. “Our focus remains on ensuring the safety of our residents, securing the affected areas, and supporting the Village of Lena as recovery efforts move forward.”

About 75 homes suffered damage in Ringle, Wis., west of Green Bay. Ringle Fire Chief Chris Kielman said some people were trapped in their basements, but there were no injuries or deaths.

A tornado flipped a semi-tractor near Elgin, Minn., and caused damage on two farmsteads, The Weather Channel reported.

More storms are expected in the region Saturday, but they aren’t likely to be as severe.

Wisconsin has seen a week of destruction as severe weather has pummeled the state. On Monday, a tornado touched down in the central part of the state, followed by five touchdowns on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. There was another round of storms on Wednesday that flooded homes, businesses and roads in Milwaukee.

“Having four out of five severe weather days with tornado activity is very rare for southern Wisconsin, especially in April,” Marcia Cronce, a meteorologist with the Milwaukee/Sullivan National Weather Service office, told the Journal Sentinel. “We had a very broad weather pattern over the center of the country, and Wisconsin was right in the battleground.”

“I have not seen devastation like this in my 35 years working in Marathon County,” Marathon County, Wis., Sheriff Chad Billeb said.

“Most of the damage [in central Wisconsin] is associated with the potential tornadoes that occurred,” Scott Berschback, a meteorologist with the Green Bay weather service office, told the Journal Sentinel.

“One of these events is not rare — we have severe weather quite often in April — but the back-to-back nature of them is a pretty unprecedented event,” Berschback said.

Dave Vetsch told CBS he was next door to his father’s place with two of his sons at his business when his kids said they had a tornado alert on their phones.

“We stepped out on the loading dock and holy smokes, there was one coming right at us,” Vetsch said.

Andrew Hawkins’ father-in-law lost his home to Friday’s tornado in Rochester.

“You always, you know, see it on the news and hear about it, to see it is another thing,” Hawkins said.

“The electricity went out, and I took the dog and went down in the basement in the shower, and I heard a big old crash, and I thought, ‘Oh, well, there goes the roof!’ but it wasn’t,” said Marcia, a Lena resident, to CBS. The noise was a large tree falling in her yard.

April 17 (UPI) — A federal judge on Friday blocked a lawsuit against the state of Hawaii that the federal government filed to prevent it from suing oil companies.

The Department of Justice last year sued Hawaii to stop a suit against fossil fuel companies for the impact of climate change on the state, but Senior Judge Helen Gillmor of the U.S. District Court in Hawaii said they it has no standing, The Hill and The New York Times reported.

In the ruling, Gillmor said that an “abstract, theoretical future harm” is not a valid basis for a lawsuit because stating an intention to file suit — which the state’s governor declared on television that he planned to do — does not amount to “concrete harm” that would allow an entity to sue.

Gillmor blocked the lawsuit because the DOJ’s theory of harm would require predicting claims brought against unknown companies; predicting that the lawsuit would be successful; “guessing” that oil companies would react in specific way; and then hypothesizing that the reaction would somehow harm the United States’ commerce and future energy policy, she wrote in the 30-page decision.

The DOJ’s suit, which was filed by now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleged that Hawaii’s action was a “burdensome and ideologically motivated” lawsuit that could cause “crippling damages” with the energy and climate policies the state allegedly is pursuing.

“We disagree with the Hawaii District Court’s ruling, which ignored Supreme Court precedent regarding the United States’ interest in the supremacy of federal law,” the DOJ’s principal deputy assistant attorney general Adam Gustafson said in a statement. “We are exploring all options.”

April 1 (UPI) — April’s full pink moon, the first full moon of spring, will be visible Wednesday night.

Peak viewing will be around 10:11 p.m. Wednesday.

Despite the colorful name, the moon will appear in its normal gray cast. It’s hued name is a tribute to the early bloom of Phlox subulata, a wildflower species native to eastern North America. It’s also known as the Paschal Moon because it happens after the spring equinox, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. It’s also known as the Breaking Ice Moon and the Budding Moon of Plants and Shrubs.

The next full moon will be on May 1 and is known as the Flower Moon. There will be two full moons in May, a phenomenon commonly known as a “blue moon.”

The moon may still appear full on Thursday, Noah Petro, chief of NASA’s planetary geology, geophysics and geochemistry laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., told CNN. He suggests finding a place to view the moon away from trees and buildings. The darker the environment, the more you can enjoy the event, he said.

Indigenous peoples call April’s full moon different names, including “kawohni,” meaning flower moon to the Cherokee; “kwiyamuyaw,” meaning moon of windbreak to the Hopi; and “tabehatawi,” meaning frog moon to the Assiniboine, CNN reported.

NASA’s Artemis II launch could also happen Wednesday evening, giving the astronauts a special view of the pink moon.

“When you look at this full moon, the crew may be on their way. They may have just launched,” Petro told CNN. “This will be the last full moon in the pre-Artemis II era, and it will look different not only to the four crew members but to all of us who journey along with them.”

March 17 (UPI) — A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck eastern Cuba early Tuesday, hours after the island’s national power grid collapsed, leaving nearly the entire country without electricity and compounding an already severe economic and social crisis.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake at magnitude 5.8, while Cuba’s National Seismological Research Center measured it at 6.0. The epicenter was located off the coast of Guantánamo province and was widely felt across eastern Cuba.

State local newspaper Granma reported no fatalities or significant material damage.

The tremor followed the total disconnection of Cuba’s National Electric System shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, the sixth nationwide blackout in roughly 18 months. The Ministry of Energy and Mines said on X that the causes remain under investigation.

The outage left nearly 10 million people without electricity, disrupting water pumping, telecommunications and Internet service. Residents relied on candles, torches and battery-powered radios, according to a report by Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca.

The ministry said the failure affected the entire country, including Havana. The U.S. Embassy in Cuba issued a security alert saying no information was available on when power would be restored.

Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said on X that authorities are following established protocols and working to restore electricity to the country’s largest generating units.

Independent outlet Diario de Cuba reported that the government has yet to explain the collapse, which coincided with renewed protests in Havana and growing signs of public discontent.

Officials initially said service was being partially restored through localized “microsystems” in several provinces, prioritizing essential facilities while attempting to restart major thermoelectric plants. Full recovery could take time, especially due to fuel shortages that have limited distributed generation since January.

Frequent blackouts have slowed industrial activity and strained public services nationwide. Recent demonstrations in several cities have resulted in arrests.

Official figures show the Cuban economy has contracted more than 15% since 2020. Much of the state-run industrial sector remains idle and essential services have deteriorated sharply.

Independent experts estimate that fully restoring the power system would require between $8 billion and $10 billion, sums widely seen as beyond the reach of the Cuban economy.

Days after President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged talks with the United States to address longstanding disputes, the government announced measures to allow greater entry of private capital, including from U.S. companies and Cuban expatriates in Miami.

In an interview with state-run Canal Caribe, Vice Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga said investors could own private companies on the island and access the financial sector. He confirmed that Cuban emigrants may become partners or owners of private businesses without living in Cuba and may associate with local firms under the Foreign Investment Law.

They also would be allowed to enter the national financial system, open foreign currency accounts and create cooperation and investment funds with authorization from the Central Bank.

Pérez-Oliva Fraga said the measures respond to demands from the diaspora and aim to expand its role in economic development as the government seeks to attract foreign capital and diversify the private sector.

He said “Cuba’s doors are open” to foreign investment, including U.S. companies, while again blaming the U.S. embargo for the island’s energy crisis and fuel shortages.

On Monday, President Donald Trump said he would have “the honor of taking Cuba,” describing the country as weakened after decades of rule by what he called violent leaders.

“You know, all my life I’ve heard about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States have the honor of taking Cuba? That would be a great honor,” Trump said from the Oval Office, according to CNN.

“Taking Cuba in some way, yes, taking Cuba. I mean, whether you free it or take it, I think I can do whatever I want with it,” he added.

His comments came as senior administration officials have repeatedly said a conflict with Iran could end within days and after Trump suggested that Cuba could be next on his agenda.

March 12 (UPI) — Police divers in Australia’s Greater Sunshine Coast region on Thursday recovered the bodies of two missing Chinese backpackers after they were found dead inside their SUV vehicle beneath floodwaters.

The 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were found near Kilkivan, 100 miles northwest of Brisbane, after a major search operation by police and the State Emergency Service using helicopters and drones when the pair failed to arrive at their destination.

“Dive squad officers from the state dive unit arrived and retrieved two deceased persons from a car that had been washed off the road at Kilkivan. The formal identification process is still underway but it is believed that the two, as reported, are a 26-year-old male and a 23-year-old female who are international tourists,” said Queensland Police Minister Dan Purdie.

Purdie said their families had been notified and authorities were working with the Chinese Consulate in Brisbane.

Bundaberg Police Chief Inspector Grantley Marcus said the pair were driving from Brisbane to Mundubbera, where they were due to begin jobs picking fruit.

“They didn’t arrive and a friend of theirs from Australia contacted police on Tuesday and reported them as missing.”

Marcus said the families of the deceased were en route to Australia and pledged police would do everything they could to assist them when they arrived.

The couple was named by 7News as Yuchen Guo, 23, from Shandong Province in eastern China, and Qingwei Qiu, 26, from Fujian Province in the southeast of the country.

Extreme rainfall has seen large areas of Queensland hit with severe flooding in recent days, with some river levels still rising. Parts of the state recorded their highest three-day rainfall totals Sunday through Tuesday.

Glen Hartwig, mayor of nearby Gympie, said the deaths of the pair were “an absolute tragedy” and called for more to be done to make tourists aware of the danger from flooding.

“These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country and tragically they’ve ended up losing their lives. We warn people about biosecurity when they come into the country, but I also think we need to warn them about the dangers of floodwaters,” he said.

“We’re very grateful that they chose to come and see our country and we’re so sorry for their loss and the pain that [family members] are now feeling,” added Hartwig.