Weather & Climate

Aug. 26 (UPI) — El Salvador and Panama have declared their highest-level alerts nationwide as the effects of El Niño threaten economies and residents’ safety.

In Panama, the climate phenomenon already has brought torrential rains and severe flooding to northern and Caribbean areas, affecting more than 15,600 people.

In El Salvador, it has triggered extreme agricultural drought and unprecedented heat that destroyed 20% of basic grain crops, seriously threatening the country’s food security.

In contrast, Panama’s metropolitan and central regions are facing a rainfall deficit that could persist at least through March, according to forecasts from Panama’s Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology.

Eleven watersheds already are experiencing “water stress,” with the effects expected to persist through May, along with elevated temperatures, Infobae reported. The situation has prompted the Panama Canal Authority to impose preventive restrictions on vessel traffic because of low water levels.

El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon marked by warmer-than-normal surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, causing shifts in global wind and rainfall patterns, as well as erratic weather conditions.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a historic forecast this month, warning that the current El Niño has a greater than 90% chance of becoming a “very strong” event.

The agency’s official models indicate a nearly 70% chance that it will surpass all events recorded since 1950 in intensity, exceeding the record set by the massive 1982-83 event.

Panama’s Government Minister Dinoska Montalvo said Tuesday the state of emergency was declared to streamline administrative procedures, strengthen operational capacity and prepare “for what is to come,” the Panamanian newspaper La Estrella de Panamá reported.

According to El Salvador’s Environment Ministry, the country is experiencing its third consecutive drought period during the current rainy season, with the eastern and coastal regions hardest hit, the news outlet elsalvador.com reported.

The government declared a nationwide red alert Tuesday because of the risk that the drought could threaten people’s livelihoods and food security.

The Environment and Natural Resources Ministry expects estimated rainfall from August through October to total only about .24 inch, compared with a normal average of 37 millimeters during that period, La Prensa Gráfica reported.

In July, El Salvador experienced a heat wave that pushed temperatures above 104 degrees-F in the country’s eastern and central regions for 12 consecutive days, representing a severe anomaly.

Although those areas are accustomed to hot weather, regular rainfall during the country’s rainy season typically acts as a natural temperature regulator, keeping average highs closer to 91 degrees.

Aug. 23 (UPI) — At least 30 people were killed during an overnight landslide at a garbage dump in Conarkry, the capital of Guinea, the government of the West African nation said Sunday.

Six others were seriously injured and 16 more sustained minor injuries in what officials described as a landslide at the Dar-es-Salam landfill in the commune of Gbessia.

The incident happened around 2 a.m. local time on Sunday as heavy overnight rains in the bustling port city and national capital caused several homes to collapse.

Emergency personnel and equipment were mobilized immediately to search for any survivors who might still be buried, rescue victims and recover bodies, the government said.

The Red Cross, armed forces members, medical teams, local authorities and nearby residents were on the scene as Guinean Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah visited the site to “assess the situation and oversee the mobilization of public services.”

He said all necessary measures are being taken to aid the injured, many of whom were taken to Donka University Hospital in Conakry.

“The government extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims, wishes a speedy recovery to the injured, and expresses its profound gratitude to all those involved in the rescue operations,” the official statement read.

Officials urged the public to “remain calm, show solidarity, and strictly adhere to the instructions of emergency services and competent authorities.”

Aug. 21 (UPI) — Arizona, Colorado and Nevada will see reductions in their water deliveries from the Colorado River by a combined 1.25 million acre-feet per year under a new framework finalized by federal officials on Friday.

Under the new 10-year “Decision Framework” governing the operations of the drought-afflicted Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs along the Colorado River Basin, Arizona implements the largest reduction in deliveries of river water — some 760,000-acre-feet in each of the next two years.

Meanwhile, California will be hit with yearly reductions of 440,000 acre-feet and Nevada would see 50,000 acre-foot declines as state and federal officials grapple with a prolonged drought during which the two reservoirs have reached their lowest-ever recorded levels.

One acre-foot is enough water for as many as four households to use for a whole year.

The cuts represent the largest ever proposed for the three “Lower Basin” states.

The combined contents of Lake Powell and Lake Mead have not been this low since before Lake Powell began filling following the closure of the gates at Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum noted in announcing the new framework.

“We are grateful for the seven basin states, the thirty basin tribes, Mexico, and many other basin stakeholders who have provided the feedback and voluntary arrangements necessary for the development of the 2027-2028 operating guidelines.” he said.

“Forty million people, millions of acres of farmland and ranchland, industries that power the American West, and some of our nation’s fastest growing metropolitan areas depend on the Colorado River.”

In addition to the reduction in water deliveries, the framework allows for the three Lower Basin States to voluntarily conserve and store at least 700,000 acre-feet of water over the two-year period to protect the system.

The Colorado River Basin has been experiencing what federal officials have called an “unprecedented multidecadal drought,” resulting in historically low runoff and reservoir levels.

Conditions worsened during 2026, driven in part by the lowest observed snowpack on record during the winter of 2025-2026.

Aug. 21 (UPI) — The Panama government blamed low rainfall caused by El Niño for a decision to cut the number of vessels permitted to transit the 51-mile-long Panama Canal by more than 11%, despite being in the middle of the wet season.

Shipping lines were notified by the Panama Canal Authority on Thursday that as of Sept. 15, it was slashing the number of daily ship movements through the canal from 36 to 32 to ensure there was no disruption to traffic and to conserve water for human consumption.

The authority said the step was necessary “to support the long-term sustainability of transit operations,” even though it had already implemented other water-saving measures and the rainy season had finally arrived.

With the sea-warning El Niño weather cycle expected to be one of the most intense on record, Britain’s Met Office said Central America, along with tropical South America and countries in the western Pacific, was at significant risk of low rainfall in this year’s wet season.

With vessels already lining up to transit the canal, in some cases for weeks, fears were growing of a knock on impact from the delays and extra costs on goods prices, including fuel and medicine.

One container ship reportedly paid $4 million to jump to the front of the line.

San Francisco-based freight-forwarding firm Flexport, which had 30 containers on the ship, told CNN that the delays at the Pacific end were the longest in three months, when there was significant backlog due to a surge in demand from maritime traffic displaced by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The ripple effects are significant through supply chains and all the way to consumer prices at stores,” said Benjamin Gedan, senior fellow and director of the Latin American program at the Stimson Center in Washington.

The canal relies on fresh water from Lake Gatun to feed 12 sets of locks that use water compartments to move vessels up or down as they navigate the topography of the Panama Isthmus.

Extreme drought during El Niños in 2023 and 2024, forced Panama to impose deep cuts in the number of ships transiting daily — 24 compared with 36 in normal times — after water levels in Lake Gatun retreated to historic lows.

Aug. 20 (UPI) — The remains of two Belgian hikers who went missing in 1992 were found in the area a melting glacier in Switzerland.

The bodies of the two men, who were 39 and 41 years old when they disappeared, were found on the Trift Glacier, police said Wednesday.

A hiker discovered the bodies on July 26 in the Valais canton in the Swiss Alps near the border with Italy.

The bodies were sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Valais Hospital in Sion, Switzerland, for identification.

“A direct comparison of DNA profiles has formally established that these are two mountaineers who went missing in the Weissmies region in 1992,” a police statement said. “Due to the retreat of the glaciers, it happens again and again that the mortal remains of people who disappeared in the mountains several decades ago come to light.”

The two men began their hike on Sept. 4, 1992, from the Weissmies hut to climb to the summit of the Weissmies mountain, 13,179 feet high. They made it to the Almagell hut, about 9,494 feet up. But they never reached the top due to poor weather conditions.

Teams searched the area several times after they were lost. They found a backpack, but not the hikers.

Valais police keep records of people reported missing in the mountains and rivers of the area dating back to 1925. As glaciers have begun to melt due to climate change, ice is exposing the bodies of climbers who went missing decades earlier.

Last year, the body of a Swiss climber who disappeared in 1994 was found on Ober Gabelhorn mountain in Valais.

Aug. 19 (UPI) — A study released Wednesday shows that the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea are far hotter than normal, threatening ecosystems and coastal communities.

Parts of the oceans around Europe reached more than 42 degrees Fahrenheit above average this week in a marine heat wave hitting the area.

Climate change is the cause, said the World Weather Attribution consortium in the study.

This summer has been especially brutal in Europe, which has seen multiple heat waves with extreme temperatures and worsened by wildfires. Western Europe recorded its hottest summer on record.

In the water, the high temps harm marine life, raise jellyfish populations and increase the risk of stronger storms later in the year.

“This summer, we’ve seen some really exceptional ocean temperatures around Europe,” said Catherine Gregory, a climate scientist at the University of Bern who contributed to the study, Politico reported.

“By July, the average temperature of the entire Mediterranean Sea was just over 27C [80.6 degrees Fahrenheit], which was the highest July value on record,” she added. “We’ve had a buoy reading to the west of Mallorca measuring more than 33C [91.4F] in open water … and we’ve seen similarly extreme conditions in the North Atlantic.”

The scientists analyzed four regions: the Eastern and Western Mediterranean; the Atlantic around the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Peninsula; and the seas around Ireland and western Britain.

“We find it’s the most extreme July marine heat wave conditions in the record for the Western Mediterranean, the Celtic region and for the Bay of Biscay-Iberian Peninsula region,” Gregory told Politico.

The scientists found that climate change raised temperatures in both Mediterranean regions by 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and Iberian waters increased by 34.52 degrees. The Irish seas rose by 34.34 degrees.

Oceans absorb most of the excess heat from burning fossil fuels. The warming waters push some species to search for cooler water, while those that can’t move, such as corals or seagrasses, could see mass die-offs.

“We have what we call winners and losers. So a lot of species wane in abundance or completely disappear while others bloom and proliferate,” said John Bruno, an ecologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and one of the study’s co-authors.

Aug. 16 (UPI) — Lake Powell, a vital man-made water reservoir on the Colorado River, has fallen to its lowest level on record as the U.S. West endures a severe, long-lasting drought, official statistics show.

The lake’s levels fell to 3519.91 feet on Saturday — low enough to break the record of 3,519.92 feet set in April 2023, according to a reading published Sunday by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Federal officials say the effects of long-term drought had reduced Colorado River Basin system storage to about 36% of capacity as of April. This was due to a combination of the lowest snowpack on record last winter and record-breaking heat in March, which intensified drought conditions across the river basin.

The situation has set off widespread concerns over elevated risks to the essential water and power infrastructure that supplies more than 40 million people across the West.

The lake, which spans Utah and Arizona, is a reservoir created by the Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Ariz.

The Bureau of Reclamation in April predicted Lake Powell’s water year minimum probable inflow at just 2.78 million acre-feet — only 29% of historical average and one of the lowest on record.

It also warned lake could decline to below 3,490 feet — the minimum power pool level — by this summer without major intervention.

If Glen Canyon Dam declines below that level, water releases would be restricted, creating “uncertainty for users, downstream impacts, instability in regional power and water supplies, and a reduction in power generation.”

Another vital reservoir in the Colorado River Basin, Lake Mead, is also currently at its lowest level since it was created in the 1930s.

The Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of the Interior remain “committed to reducing the collective risk of both Lake Powell and Lake Mead falling below critical elevations to protect critical infrastructure to continue to meet the water and hydropower needs of the basin,” a spokesman told CNN on Sunday.

Aug. 15 (UPI) — Hungarian working crews are sinking two barges into the Danube River in an attempt to raise water levels and stave off an energy crisis, the prime minister said on Saturday.

Water levels of the 1,800-mile river have fallen to record lows amid a months-long drought across Europe.

To raise the waters, crews are sinking two 260-foot barges into the Danube River.

Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, Paks, depends on water from the river to cool down its reactors.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar said current water levels on Saturday were 48 inches lower than usual, and could fall a further 4 inches by Monday.

If it falls that low, he added, the power plant would have to shut down one of its last two functioning turbines.

“Water management experts are continuously monitoring the water level, water velocity, and riverbed condition using a measuring vessel and installed measuring devices,” Magyar said in a statement on X.

The plant is responsible for generating half the electricity needed by the country’s 10 million people.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham imposed a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues and deployed military personnel on Friday in a battle against widespread wildfires across the country.

Speaking from the hard-hit West Midlands of England, Burnham said the measures were made necessary by continuing waves of hot weather and extreme drought.

“We cannot accept this as the new normal,” he said in a video address while recounting how fires the region “have destroyed homes, forced people to evacuate and left firefighters injured while protecting others.”

Much of England and Wales remains in a deep drought and is facing another period of extreme heat a day after the Met Office reported temperatures reaching 100.6 degrees in London for the fifth-hottest day on record in the nation’s history, the British leader noted.

“Farmers are watching crops fail and firefighters have faced hundreds of wildfires in a matter of weeks,” he said. “This is what climate change looks like here and now.”

The prime minister said the barbeque ban, emergency funding for fire and rescue services and deploying military support were decided during a meeting of COBRA, the government’s emergency response committee, earlier this week.

But, he added, “we also have to tackle the causes of climate change and make Britain more resilient to the extreme weather we’re already experiencing. We shouldn’t just accept this as inevitable and I don’t.”

The British government has already announced plans to support the development of nine new water reservoirs and improve resilience to future droughts, floods and extreme weather, as well as a investment of nearly $135 million million “to strengthen the country’s response to wildfires and extreme weather.”

Thursday’s extreme temperatures meant Britain this year has already seen the most number of days reaching or exceeding 97 degrees (four days) and 98 degrees (three days), as well as equaling 2022 for seeing two days of 100 degrees.

As the weekend began, forecasters predicted a gradual cooling from north to south across the country but with much-needed rainfall remaining scarce.

“A front moving south eastwards across the U.K. on Monday and Tuesday could bring northern areas some rain but amounts of rain in the south will be small at most and the majority will fall over Northern Ireland and Scotland,” Steven Keates of the Met Office said in a release.

“The next meaningful rain forecast for these very dry areas could be towards the end of next week as an area of low pressure influences our weather from the southwest.”

South Korea saw a record hot summer this year with the nationwide average temperature, excluding Jeju Island, coming to 29.1 C in the first 10 days of August, the highest on record, the state weather service said Tuesday.

The reading is on par with the 10-day average of August 2018, making it the hottest first 10-day period of August in 53 years since 1973, when the weather observation network was expanded nationwide, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The average daily maximum temperature in the first 10 days of this month was 34.4 C, the second highest after 34.7 C recorded in 2018, the KMA said.

The average daily minimum temperature, which is an indicator of night heat, was 24.8 C for the same period, the third highest on record following 25 C in 2022 and 24.9 C in 2018.

The highest temperature recorded during the 10-day period was 42.5 C observed in the southeastern city of Yangsan at 1:26 p.m. on Aug. 2. It was also the highest temperature recorded in the country since 1904, when modern meteorological observations began, according to the KMA.

In total, the daily maximum temperature exceeded 40 C at 32 locations nationwide in the first 10 days of this month, the KMA noted.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

Aug. 9 (UPI) — Typhoon Dolphin roared into eastern China Sunday at Force 13 speeds of 85 miles per hour, producing extreme downpours and prompting the cancelation of hundreds of flights, official media reported.

Dolphin made two landings in densely populated eastern China, with the first coming at 5:30 p.m. local time at Yuhuan in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The second landfall came at Yueqing City in Zhejiang a bit more than an hour later.

China’s National Meteorological Center issued alerts to local authorities in the region to be guard on against extreme downpours.

Forecasters warned that heavy to torrential rain is expected until Tuesday in most parts of Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui and northern and central-eastern Hubei provinces.

Some local rain totals could reach as high as 12.5 inches in eastern Zhejiang and the mountainous regions of southern Anhui, they predicted, with as much as 3.1 inches falling in as little as an hour.

Meanwhile, 388 inbound and outbound flights were canceled Sunday at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou City, the capital of Zhejiang Province.

Typhoon Dolphin is expected to weaken into a tropical storm as it moves northwestward through Zhejiang, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said Sunday.

The storm passed north of the island but its wake prompted sea warnings in the area as maritime officials announced the suspension of sea traffic on Monday.

Despite dodging a direct hit, Dolphin produced strong winds and heavy rains in northern Taiwan, causing scattered damage, the Central News Agency reported.

Six people were injured and hundreds of incidents of fallen trees were reported in Taipei as a result of the typhoon.

Aug. 5 (UPI) — Hungary is facing an energy crisis as the Danube River, which cools the nation’s largest power plant, dries to record lows.

Water levels of the 1,800-mile river, which flows through 10 countries in Europe, has fallen amid a three-month drought across the continent.

The Danube is an integral component in the running of Paks, Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, as it flows into the reactor and cools it down.

Three of the plant’s four reactors were not in operation on Wednesday, while the fourth is operating at 50% power, CBS News reported.

The plant is responsible for generating half the electricity needed by the country’s 10 million people.

“Several factors will determine whether Hungary’s most important power plant can avoid a complete shutdown in the coming days,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, CBS News reported.

“There are a few critical days left — today and tomorrow are certainly that,” Magyar added, according to the outlet. “I ask everyone to continue the national unity that has developed in the country. Let’s do what our country demands.”

But the drying of the Danube has brought a silver lining for some. Residents and researchers have marveled at several discoveries that have emerged as water levels drop.

In Serbia, researchers have found some 200 boats that had been hidden deep in the Danube, including World War II-era Nazi warships, Smithsonian magazine reported.

A ship that likely sank in 1937 was exposed in Croatia.

And in Bulgaria, residents discovered the remains of a woolly mammoth.

Aug. 3 (UPI) — A flash flooding alert has been issued for New York City and parts of Long Island through Monday evening.

The National Weather Service warns that heavy storms battering the area could reach as much as 2 inches per hour throughout all of the city’s boroughs and Nassau County.

“Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations,” the NWS warning said.

Heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms are expected to ease by Monday evening.

“Summer storms can arrive with little warning, bringing flash flooding, downed tree limbs and dangerous lightning,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement.

“I urge every New Yorker to stay alert, take these storms seriously and head indoors when conditions become unsafe,” the mayor continued. “The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to stay informed.”

City officials recommend New Yorkers allow extra travel time and avoid driving through flooded streets, as even shallow water can stall vehicles.

Aug. 2 (UPI) — Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes across the Pacific Northwest on Saturday, as dangerous wildfires spread in parts of Washington state and Oregon.

Three major wildfires are burning around Spokane, the largest of which had burned more than 3,500 acres by Sunday morning, NPR reported.

“I was sitting near an elementary school and saw a wall of flames east of the school and just a cascade of black smoke and a wall of flames coming toward me,” Alexandra Duggan, who lives in the area, told NPR.

More than 5,000 structures are threatened by the fires, which have knocked out power from ore than 13,000 homes, CNN reported.

Gov. Bob Ferguson of Washington declared a state of emergency, saying, “Our record-setting drought and high winds are creating dangerous conditions across the state.”

“If you are in the area, please continue to be vigilant and follow directions of emergency personnel,” Ferguson said in a statement on X.

In Oregon, wildfires have burned more than 1.8 million acres this season, OPB reported.

On Saturday, more than 25,000 Oregonians were under evacuation orders in central and southeastern Oregon.

One of the blazes, east of Mount Hood, had already burned some 23,000 acres by Saturday morning and remained at 0% containment.

“The reason we’re seeing these conditions… is that things are really dry,” said Matt Callihan, a lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service, to OPB. “We haven’t seen rain in a long time. It’s been hot, so that’s allowed fuels to cure pretty well.”

July 30 (UPI) — Tens of thousands of residents in Spain and France are returning home Thursday after being evacuated from wildfires that have torn through Europe.

Firefighters have contained wildfires near Madrid in Spain and in France’s Bordeaux region for the moment. However, authorities in both countries warn that there is still work to be done while Europe withstands conditions that are conducive to the fires spreading again.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Wednesday that firefighters were making progress, focusing on hot spots to prevent the fires from regaining momentum. Authorities later began lifting some evacuation orders.

France lifted evacuation orders for about 84,000 residents in the southwest region of the country Thursday. In total, about two-thirds of evacuees have been given the go-ahead to return to their homes.

While progress is being made in the fight, the heatwave in Europe continues. It has been one of Europe’s hottest summers ever recorded. Fires are still raging from Spain to Turkey. Northern Africa has also been battling wildfires for more than a week.

France is bracing for weather conditions Thursday that Sophie Brocas, prefect of the French department of Gironde, has called “unfavorable.” High winds, falling humidity and a chance of thunderstorms have increased the chances of renewed intensity.

Bordeaux received some rainfall Thursday.

In Spain and France alone, more than 300,000 acres have burned.

SEOUL, July 23 (UPI) — South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday warned that landmines laid by North Korea in the Demilitarized Zone may have been washed into the South after recent heavy rainfall.

“There is a very high possibility that these washed-away landmines could flow into our territory via the rivers shared between the two Koreas, and an explosion of these landmines could cause significant damage,” JCS spokesman Capt. Jang Do-young said during a regular press briefing.

Jang urged the public to be cautious when near inter-Korean rivers and to report any suspected landmine to police or a nearby military unit.

The alert comes days after South Korean authorities issued a flood warning for the Imjin River following heavy downpours and North Korea’s release of water from a dam without advance notice.

Seoul’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said Monday that satellite imagery confirmed water had been released from North Korea’s Hwanggang Dam on the upper reaches of the Imjin River.

A Unification Ministry official on Tuesday said joint responses to natural disasters should be treated as humanitarian matters.

“Responsible cooperation between the two sides is necessary,” the official told reporters.

An unannounced discharge from Hwanggang Dam in September 2009 caused flooding that killed six South Koreans. The following month, North Korea agreed to provide advance notice before future releases. Pyongyang sent notifications on a handful of occasions in 2010 and 2013 but has not done so since.

North Korea released water from the dam several times during last year’s monsoon season, prompting the Unification Ministry to publicly urge Pyongyang to provide advance notice. A ministry spokeswoman said the appeal served as a form of “indirect communication” because Pyongyang had cut off inter-Korean communication channels in April 2023.

Thursday’s warning also comes as Pyongyang continues an extended campaign to fortify the border and harden its military posture toward South Korea, including laying large numbers of landmines inside the DMZ.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared the South a “hostile state” and scrapped an inter-Korean military agreement in late 2023.

Beginning in April 2024, Pyongyang ramped up activity along the DMZ by clearing land, laying mines, reinforcing tactical roads and installing anti-tank barriers near the Military Demarcation Line.

South Korean military officials have said North Korea increased the number of troops assigned to the work from roughly 1,000 last year to about 5,000 this year.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry last month described the activity as a violation of the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, an assessment later contradicted by the U.S.-led United Nations Command.

July 23 (UPI) — Tropical Storm Bertha was nearing southern coast of Louisiana late Wednesday, hours after it made landfall over the state, according to forecasters.

The center of the storm was about 75 miles southwest of New Orleans and about 135 miles east-southeast of Lake Charles, La., the National Hurricane Center said in its 10 p.m. CDT update. The storm was traveling west at 12 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, marking no change in strength or direction.

There was a tropical storm warning in effect from the Alabama-Mississippi border to Sargent, Texas, and metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

The NHC said a faster westward or west-southwestward track is expected for Bertha over the next day or so.

“On the forecast track, the center of Bertha will move near or along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts through Thursday afternoon, and then move farther inland into Texas Thursday evening and Thursday night,” the NHC said.

Little change in strength in the storm is expected over the next day or so. Bertha is expected to maintain tropical storm intensity until it reaches the upper Texas coast on Thursday. It’s expected to dissipate inland over Texas by Thursday night or Friday.

Bertha, which formed Monday night, is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 1 to 4 inches with isolated higher totals through Thursday along the central Gulf Coast from western Florida into southern Louisiana. This could produce isolated flash flooding, especially in urban areas, the NHC said.

Surf conditions caused by Bertha will continue spreading west along the northern Gulf Coast, with swells likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions

July 22 (UPI) — Tropical Storm Bertha moved somewhat westward over southeast Louisiana on Wednesday evening, hours after it made landfall over the state.

The center of the storm was about 40 miles southwest of New Orleans and about 165 miles east-southeast of Lake Charles, La., the National Hurricane Center said in its 7 p.m. CDT update. The storm was traveling west at 7 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, marking no change in strength or direction.

There was a tropical storm warning in effect from the Alabama/Florida line west to Cameron, La., metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. A tropical storm watch was in place from west of Cameron, La., to Sargent, Texas and Lake Maurepas.

The NHC said a faster westward or west-southwestward track is expected for Bertha over the next day or so.

“On the forecast track, the center of Bertha will move near or along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts through Thursday, and then move farther inland into Texas Thursday night,” the NHC said.

Little change in strength in the storm is expected over the next day or so. Bertha is expected to maintain tropical storm intensity until it reaches the upper Texas coast on Thursday. It’s expected to dissipate inland over Texas by Thursday night or Friday.

Bertha, which formed Monday night, is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 1 to 4 inches with isolated higher totals through Thursday along the central Gulf Coast from western Florida into southern Louisiana. This could produce isolated flash flooding, especially in urban areas, the NHC said.

Surf conditions caused by Bertha will continue spreading west along the northern Gulf Coast, with swells likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions

July 21 (UPI) — Conditions from Tropical Storm Bertha will continue to spread into Wednesday across parts of the north Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said. Tropical storm conditions are possible in Louisiana by late Wednesday.

The storm, which isn’t expected to become a hurricane before fizzling out, formed Monday night.

The epicenter of the storm was located about 120 miles west-southwest of Panama City, Fla., and 105 miles south-southeast of Mobile, Ala., the NHC said in its 7 p.m. CDT update. The storm was traveling west at 6 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.

Winds must reach at least 74 mph for a storm to be considered a hurricane.

There was a tropical storm warning in effect from the Bay/Gulf County line in Florida west to Morgan City, La., metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. A tropical storm watch was in place from Morgan City, La., west to Cameron, La., and Lake Maurepas. This marked no change from the 4 p.m. CDT update.

“Little change is strength is expected tonight, and gradual weakening is forecast Wednesday through Friday,” the NHC said.

Bertha is expected to produce total rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with isolated higher totals through Thursday along the central Gulf Coast from western Florida into southern Louisiana. This could produce isolated flash flooding, especially in urban areas, the NHC said.

Surf conditions caused by Bertha will continue spreading west along the northern Gulf Coast, with swells likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

July 16 (UPI) — Thick smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into northeastern quarter of the United States on Thursday after similarly darkening skies across and prompting health warnings across much of the Great Lakes region.

Dangerous levels of smoke were noted across Canada and the northeastern and midwestern United States, sparking memories of the historically severe wildfire smoke outbreak in 2023.

Entire states including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin were under air quality alerts.

By early Thursday, Minneapolis, Duluth, Minn., and Detroit were among the most heavily impacted areas of the country.

Very heavy smoke from large wildfires in northern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario spread over Minnesota from late Wednesday into Thursday morning, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reported.

Hourly observations of smoke concentrations broke records for the Twin Cities on both days, the agency said.

In Detroit, businesses and attractions closed due to poor air quality.

A planned concert by rocker John Mellencamp at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Mich., was canceled while some workers inside Ford Motor‘s Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., were hospitalized amid the smoky haze and intense heat, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Michigan’s statewide air quality alert was extended through Friday before cooler weather was expected to move the smoky pall out of the Great Lakes region.

In Chicago, the city closed all of its public beaches and outdoor pools, while Milwaukee recorded the worst air quality in its history — a record-breaking Air Quality Index measured at over 600, according to the Milwaukee Journal.

Further east, smoke from the Canadian wildfires enveloped New York City, prompting Mayor Zohran Mamdani to urge residents to “take precautions to stay cool and out of harm’s way” while dealing with both the smoke and high temperatures.

“In our city, we pride ourselves on being resilient,” the mayor told reporters early Thursday. “Today is not a day to say, ‘In spite of the air quality, I’m going to do everything I was going to do yesterday.’ This is very serious. We are reaching into a level of air quality that is dangerous for every single New Yorker.”

SANTIAGO, Chile, July 16 (UPI) — Chile declared a preventive state of emergency across 10 of its 16 administrative regions as authorities warned that an exceptionally severe weather system linked to El Niño could bring life-threatening conditions, widespread flooding and significant property damage.

President José Antonio Kast’s government issued the emergency declaration ahead of a powerful frontal system expected to trigger flooding, overflowing rivers and landslides in the Andes foothills.

Chile’s Meteorological Directorate forecast that the system, which already has reached the country’s southern regions, will persist for five consecutive days, bringing heavy rainfall, strong winds, snowfall in the Andean foothills and hazardous coastal conditions.

Central and southern Chile are expected to face three consecutive frontal systems, including a Category 5 atmospheric river, the highest level on the scale used to measure these corridors of concentrated atmospheric moisture. In response to the multi-hazard event, authorities issued the country’s highest meteorological alert.

Meteorologists warned that Santiago alone could receive between 4 and 6 inches of rain during the event, more than half the precipitation the capital typically receives from four to six major winter storms.

According to records from Santiago’s main weather station, the city averages 11.27 inches of precipitation annually. The approaching system could deliver between 35% and 52% of the city’s average yearly rainfall within just a few days.

Metropolitan Gov. Claudio Orrego said the situation could become even more challenging because the region has experienced an unusually dry year.

“The metro area is expected to get [5.5 to 8 inches] of rain over four days, with winds reaching about [45 mph], and the freezing level has climbed above [11,500 feet]. That adds up to a difficult situation for the region. We expect the power companies to respond appropriately to what’s coming,” Orrego said.

Chile’s National Geology and Mining Service, known as Sernageomin, warned of a high probability of mudslides, landslides, rockfalls and flooding.

Kast said the Armed Forces had been placed on preventive standby to strengthen the government’s emergency response capabilities.

“The Armed Forces have ordered their personnel into preventive readiness so they will be available if a response is required,” Kast told Radio BioBio.

As an additional precaution, authorities suspended classes at preschools and schools in the affected areas.

Officials also urged residents to prepare for possible disruptions to essential services, including drinking water and electricity. One of the government’s main concerns is the resilience of the power grid after severe storms in August 2024.

During that event, wind gusts exceeding 74 mph damaged critical infrastructure, leaving more than 80,000 households without electricity for as long as six days.

Carolina Martínez, director of the Coastal Observatory at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, warned that the storm’s effects could continue even after rainfall subsides.

“We should not only be concerned about the rain, but also about the behavior of the ocean, the response of beaches, unstable coastal cliffs, hillsides reacting to higher river flows at river mouths and intense or concentrated rainfall,” she said.

Martínez said the storm could cause localized flooding, shoreline changes, wave overtopping, increased pressure on wetlands and river mouths, along with sinkhole risks in the most vulnerable areas.

The preventive state of emergency will remain in effect through Tuesday.

July 13 (UPI) — Exceptionally hot weather in May and June was responsible for the heat-related deaths of at least 2,700 people in England and Wales, according to British research out Monday that found that human-caused climate change was a significant factor.

Temperature records for both months fell during heat waves May 21-29 and June 18-28, with the bulk of the fatalities — 2,200 — in June when the temperature rose to as high as 99.9 degrees Fahrenheit compared with average daytime highs of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the Met Office said in a news release.

Researchers from Imperial College London, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Met Office modeled excess deaths — those over and above normal levels — during both heat waves using historical mortality records and established peer-reviewed methods.

Notably, almost 6 in 10 of fatalities during the May heat wave were attributed to additional heat contributed by human-caused climate change, compared with a little less than 4 in 10 during the heat wave in June, which was hotter and lasted longer.

The scientists said daytime maximum temperatures approximately 7 degrees Fahrenheit higher than they would have been without human-induced climate change had fueled temperatures that would have otherwise been far less likely to occur — making the heat waves far more hazardous to human health.

“We all love the sun, but people need to be aware that we are now seeing dangerous climate-change-fueled heat that is claiming lives, disrupting schools and hospitals and shutting down transport and infrastructure,” said Dr. Clair Barnes, Research Associate in Extreme Weather and Climate Change at Imperial College London.

“It’s time we woke up to the fact that we now live in a country with dangerously hot summers. To protect people during future extremes, we must urgently adapt to the reality of the climate we now have, and double down on global efforts to reach net zero emissions to stop this from getting worse,” she said.

Dr. Malcolm Mistry, Assistant Professor in Climate and Geo-spatial Modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, expressed concern that only a few weeks into summer England and Wales had already experienced two record-breaking heat waves.

He warned that with spikes of extreme hot weather more frequent and more intense due to human activity, summer heat waves were “rapidly evolving into a major health risk for people in the United Kingdom.”

Mistry said it was critical that changes to homes, workplaces and critical infrastructure to cope with extreme heat kept ahead of rising health risks in order to protect the elderly, children, babies and other vulnerable groups.

The Met Office said 2026 has been exceptional with the two heat waves topping records that had stood since May 1944 and June 1976.

“For the time of year these events were extreme, even in our warmer climate,” said Climate Attribution Manager, Dr. Mark McCarthy.

The climate division of the U.K. Health Security Agency said that with periods of heat likely to become more intense, longer and more frequent as the world continued to warm, the study showed the “scale of risk associated with extreme heat and the growing threat climate change poses to our wellbeing.”

Continental Europe has also been in the grip of a more or less continuous heat wave since May that has placed health systems under huge pressure, triggered deadly wildfires that have burned through tens of thousands of hectares of woodland and scrubland, crippled power grids and forced schools to close.

The World Health Organization said Sunday that 1,300 excess deaths reported across Europe since June 21 were linked to the high temperatures.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Europe was warming twice as fast as the rest of the world with 150 million people suffering the negative impacts of the extreme heat.

France’s Health Ministry said Sunday that there were 1,000 extra deaths between Wednesday and Saturday alone, compared with previous months.