Hundreds of wildfires burned through over one million acres of land in California in less than two weeks in August. The resulting smoke has not only worsened air quality across the state but spread across the country.
Wildfires across Colorado during summer 2020 has led to the shutdown of the major thoroughfare across the state and billowed smoke for hundreds of miles.
NOAA scientists forecast that the Gulf dead zone would measure roughly 6,700 square miles—bigger than the long-term average recorded since 1985, but lower than the record-high extent observed in 2017.
As the region’s dry summer approaches, precipitation deficits pose a threat to livestock operators, farmers, and fish, and heighten the risk of wildfires.
Much of the southeastern United States went from little drought to widespread severe drought in a matter of a few weeks thanks to little rain and hot and sunny days.
