Latest news with #USDroughtMonitor
CBS News
21 hours ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Colorado drought update: Little change this week, but rain may be on the way
Colorado's latest drought update brings little overall change, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday, June 19. CBS In northeastern Colorado, there was a small but positive shift: conditions have improved from moderate drought to abnormally dry. While it's not a complete recovery, it marks a slight step in the right direction. However, more serious drought concerns persist across western Colorado. Portions of Delta, Mesa, and Montrose counties remain locked in extreme drought. Soil moisture remains low, vegetation is drying out quickly, and the risk of wildfire is elevated in these areas. CBS This week, Colorado did receive some beneficial moisture, especially in parts of the Denver metro area and Eastern Plains. But due to the Drought Monitor's data cutoff on Tuesday morning, that rain isn't reflected in this week's analysis. Looking forward, we're tracking a system that could bring much-needed rain to parts of the state early next week.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Climate
- Time of India
Fast-moving brush fire on Hawaii's Maui island evacuates about 50 people. No structures have burned
Fast-moving brush fire on Hawaii's Maui island evacuates about 50 people (Image: AP) A fast-moving Hawaii brush fire fuelled by fierce winds forced the evacuation of about 50 Maui residents on the opposite side of the same island where a devastating blaze killed over 100 people two years ago. The fire started Sunday in a sparsely populated area with land set aside for Native Hawaiians. Here's what we know about the fire so far: Fire size now estimated at 330 acres The Kahikinui was initially estimated at 500 acres (202 hectares), but aerial surveys overnight put the estimate at about 330 acres (134 hectares), Maui's fire department said. The fire is 85% contained. The remote, challenging terrain made it difficult to estimate the fire's size, the department said in a statement. A police drone showed hot spots, but none flared overnight. No injuries or structural damage was reported. Weather conditions were mostly sunny Monday with a high of 67 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius) and east winds of about 15 mph (24 kph), gusting up to about 25 mph (40 kph). The US Drought Monitor says all of Maui is in drought. Authorities conducted door-to-door evacuations and part of a highway remains closed. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Perdagangkan CFD Emas dengan Broker Tepercaya IC Markets Mendaftar Undo Flashbacks to an earlier fire Warren Aganos was on his family's Hawaiian Homelands lot preparing to go on a Father's Day hunt when a neighbour called him around 9 a.m. telling him a fire had broken out. "I hung up and raced out, I didn't let her finish," said Aganos, who has been slowly rebuilding the three structures his family lost in a 2016 brush fire that burned over 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) in the same area. "I was thinking about the last one," he said. "It was super emotional." Aganos said he rushed in his truck to make sure first responders knew where the community's water storage tanks were before navigating Kahikinui's dirt roads down to the highway where he could see smoke billowing over the hillside. The community lacks electrical and water infrastructure, and some of the roads are only navigable by four-wheel drive. State and local leaders signed emergency proclamations so that the Hawaii National Guard can help and counties can access assistance. What is the region like? Kahikinui is less populated and developed than Lahaina, which was the Hawaiian Kingdom's capital in the 1800s and is now a popular tourist destination. Kahikinui was used for cattle ranching for many years and is near a state forest reserve. The fire department sent engines, tankers and a helicopter to battle the blaze. Three bulldozers cut firebreaks in the lower part of the community, Desiree Graham, co-chair of Kahikinui's firewise committee, said. The area has 104 Hawaiian homeland lots of 10 to 20 acres (4 to 8 hectares) each. About 40 lots have homes, including 15 with full-time residents. Some lots have more than one home, Graham said. A state agency issues lot leases under a program Congress created in 1921 to help Native Hawaiians become economically self-sufficient. Those with at least 50% Hawaiian blood quantum can apply for a 99-year lease for $1 a year. Fire devastated Lahaina nearly two years ago Maui is still recovering from the massive inferno that enveloped Lahaina in August 2023. That fire was the deadliest in the US in more than a century. It destroyed thousands of properties and caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damage. University of Hawaii researchers say unemployment and poverty rose after the blaze. The Kahikinui fire may seem small compared to continental US fires, but it's significant for an island of 735 square miles (1,903 square kilometres). Other Western fires Crews also are battling wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, around the Great Basin, in California and the Rockies. National Weather Service forecasters and federal land managers have warned in recent weeks that fire danger is escalating in many places amid rising daytime temperatures and single-digit humidity levels. The risks won't start to wane - at least in the southwestern US - until the monsoon starts to kick in, bringing much-needed rain. In southern New Mexico, a wildfire ballooned to nearly 30 square miles (78 square kilometres) over the weekend in the Gila National Forest. The flames forced the evacuations of homes that dot the mountains north of Silver City, blocked access to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and prompted air quality warnings as smoke drifted north. Campgrounds and access points to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail also were closed. In Oregon, several dozen homes in Wasco County were destroyed by a fire that started last Wednesday. Some evacuations remained, but fire managers said Monday that the threat to structures had diminished. So far this year, the nation has seen double the number of fires as last year but the acreage is less, according to the National Interagency Fire Centre. More than 2,700 wildland firefighters and support personnel were assigned to 15 large wildfires across the country.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Work is underway to divide Johnson County into districts under a new state law. What to know:
Work is underway to comply with a state-mandated change that could reshape the future of Johnson County's governing body. Senate File 75, a change to state law passed and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in April, requires Story, Black Hawk and Johnson counties to elect their county supervisors via districts instead of at-large. In a letter addressed to the governor in April, the Johnson County supervisors urged Reynolds to veto the bill, saying it "targets" just three of 99 counties in the state and "strips them of their right to choose how their local governments are elected." "No matter how it is framed, this bill singles out counties that happen to elect local leaders who reflect the views of their diverse constituencies," the supervisors wrote. "That's not democracy in service to all, it's policymaking designed to produce different electoral outcomes." More: Is Iowa still in a drought? See how more May rainfall changed the US Drought Monitor map Johnson County will be split up into five districts, equal in population, that spread across the entire county. One supervisor will be elected from each district. What to know about the new election process: The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has appointed a three-member redistricting commission comprised of residents from around the area. The commissioners are Susan Dvorsky of Coralville, Nathan Mueller of Solon and Thomas McInerney of Iowa City. More: How Iowa Republicans voted on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' on taxes, Medicaid and SNAP The Johnson County Democrats chose Dvorsky and Mueller with support from the local board of supervisors. The county Republican party selected McInerney. The board met a May 15 deadline to establish the commission. The commission is now tasked with drawing five districts with equal populations within Johnson County. The temporary county redistricting commission will also hold "at least one public hearing to receive public comments about the plan." More: Congress passes budget bill with deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. What that means for Iowa A brief outline from Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chair Jon Green in board documents revealed plans for four public meetings in the summer and early fall, three daytime meetings, and one in the evening. The county redistricting commission's final plans for the 2026 elections must be in place by Oct. 1, 2025. The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency will then officially draw the districts by the end of the year. The five-person Johnson County Board of Supervisors will all be up for election in 2026, once the districts have been finalized. If this law had not been set to take effect, only two of the five board members — Green and V Fixmer-Oraiz — would be up for election. Instead, Rod Sullivan, Lisa Green-Douglass and Mandi Remington are now poised to run a second election campaign in three years, having just been elected to four-year terms in 2024. More: Students ask Regents to veto tuition hike amid funding uncertainty, affordability concerns To offset future elections after the redistricting, the Johnson County Auditor's Office will randomly select two of the five districts for a 2028 supervisors election, according to board documents. The remaining three candidates will be elected to the typical four-year term. Several of the current supervisors could retain their seats depending on how the districts are drawn. The county has just over 160,000 total residents, the most recent census estimates show, meaning each of the five districts should contain about 32,000 people. More: A look at Liberty High School's adaptive P.E. class and the student's making a difference Iowa City is in the center of the county and could find itself within several districts. A U.S. Census estimate puts Iowa City's population at around 76,000 as of July 1, 2024, meaning the city could include two of the five districts. Fixmer-Oraiz, Remington and Sullivan all listed addresses in Iowa City in their most recent filings. Green-Douglass' address is listed in North Liberty, while Green's address is in Lone Tree. Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@ or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01. This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Johnson County redistricting begins ahead of 2026 supervisor elections
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Dried riverbed exposes 113 million years old dinosaur footprints that remained hidden for so long
Dinosaur fossils and ancient tracks are more than just remnants of a distant past; they are windows into Earth's prehistoric ecosystems and the lives of the massive creatures that once roamed the planet. Over millions of years, these fossils have stood the test of time and remained preserved in sediment and stone. These natural time capsules help scientists put together the puzzle of our planet's evolutionary history. But what if these remnants come in the form of trails that seem to lead us their way! Track discoveries in particular are invaluable. Unlike bones, which give clues about anatomy, tracks show real-time evidence of how dinosaurs moved, hunted, or traveled in groups. They allow paleontologists to visualize ancient landscapes and provide information about species that may not have been identified through fossils alone. Discoveries like these are often buried under layers of sediment or water and only surface due to environmental changes, sometimes in the most unexpected ways. One such track has been recently found in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas, where 113-million-year-old dinosaur tracks were revealed, not by excavation, but by drought. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo Severe drought conditions in Texas have led to uncovering of the dinosaur tracks dating back roughly 113 million years, the park announced in a statement on Monday. The footprints, usually remain hidden beneath the flowing waters and sediment of a river within the park, have become visible due to intense drought that has dried up much of the riverbed. This has given us an opportunity for a stunning glimpse into the prehistoric past, revealing tracks that are normally inaccessible. 'Most tracks that have recently been uncovered and discovered at different parts of the river in the park belong to Acrocanthosaurus,' park spokesperson Stephanie Salinas Garcia told CNN. 'This was a dinosaur that would stand, as an adult, about 15 feet tall and (weigh) close to seven tons.' Tracks from another species, Sauroposeidon, were also found. According to Garcia, these dinosaurs were about 60 feet tall and weighed around 44 tons as adults, huge herbivores that once roamed what is now central Texas. 'Under normal weather conditions, the dinosaur tracks found in the riverbed are under the water and filled with sediment, which makes them less visible,' Garcia explained. Texas has been facing severe climate challenges in recent months. As of last week, more than 60% of the state was experiencing drought, including the two most extreme categories, according to the US Drought Monitor. Along with high temperatures regularly reaching triple digits, these conditions have dried up bodies of water across the region, leading to unexpected archaeological and paleontological discoveries. 'Being able to find these discoveries and experience new dinosaur tracks is always an exciting time at the park!' Garcia said. However, this moment of wonder is likely to be brief. Rain is forecasted, and with it, the tracks are expected to be buried once again, and this natural process helps preserve them for future generations. 'While these newer dinosaur tracks were visible for a brief amount of time, it brought about the wonder and excitement about finding new dinosaur tracks at the park,' Garcia added. 'Dinosaur Valley State Park will continue to protect these 113-million-year-old tracks not only for present, but future generations.'
Mint
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Mint
Record Pace of Snowmelt in US West Threatens Another Drought
Widespread heat across the US West is causing the snowpack to melt at a record-breaking pace, risking water shortages and an early start to wildfire season. Parts of the region spanning the West Coast to the lower Mountain West have less than half of the normal amount of snow typical at this time of year, the US National Integrated Drought Information System said in a statement. Some have nothing. Only parts of southern Oregon and a few places in Northern California are holding onto above-average snow pack. The snowpack is vital to the region, which for more than 20 years has struggled with drought, leaving states struggling to maintain water supplies and contributing to wildfires. The lack of spring runoff also depletes hydroelectric capacity, a key power source for the West. Though most areas received near-to-above-normal snow in winter, the quick melt caused much of it to change from solid to vapor, which has robbed rivers, streams and reservoirs of runoff needed to replenish water supplies. 'Snow melt this time of year is common, but such rapid melt rates are not normal,' the agency said. 'Some stations in Nevada, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico saw record early melt-out.' Unlike the east, the western US gets most of its water through the winter months and depends on snowpack high in the mountains melting slowly through the spring and early summer to fill reservoirs and rivers. The water is then used for drinking and agriculture across through the summer and fall. Arizona and New Mexico are often saved by their summer monsoon season, which starts in late June and July. Forecasters have been expecting a near-normal rainfall for those states. The forecast through May 25 to 29 calls for continued high temperatures, the US Climate Prediction Center said. Just over half of the land in 11 western states is in drought, according to the US Drought Monitor.
