There is a river in the sky above your head right now. It carries more water than the Amazon, but you cannot see it. It controls whether your state is in drought or flood. It is called an atmospheric river, and on December 22, 2010, it had already delivered 75 percent of California’s entire annual … Read more
A single molecule of water that fell as rain on ancient Rome has circled through oceans, then clouds, then into rivers and soil thousands of times since then. It may be falling on your roof this afternoon. The water cycle makes this possible, and it has been running without pause for billions of years. No … Read more
The Ontario wildfires 2026 season erupted in mid-July as nearly 200 forest fires burned across northern Ontario. The blazes forced wildfire evacuations Ontario in at least 15 communities and sent hazardous Canadian wildfire smoke across 19 U.S. states. Toronto air quality briefly ranked as the worst in the world. In Milwaukee, the Air Quality Index … Read more
A single band of moisture, invisible to the naked eye, carries more water than the Mississippi River. When it hits land, it can end a drought or drown a city. If you have watched a West Coast weather forecast in winter, you have heard the term. Atmospheric rivers, sometimes called rivers in the sky, sound … Read more
India’s monsoon rains are 43 percent below average, threatening food security for over 600 million people. Here is the science behind the weak 2026 season and the El Nino connection.
California is piloting solar panels over irrigation canals to reduce evaporation and generate clean electricity. The project could save billions of gallons of w
A complete guide to El Niño: what it is, how it forms, its worldwide impacts on food, health, and communities, and what the 2026 forecast means for you.
The old “fire season” is dead. In 2026, wildfire has become a year-round threat across the American West, with 30,000 fires burning 2.4 million acres before summer even started. The National Interagency Fire Center reports fire counts running 140% above the 10-year average, and agencies no longer use the phrase “fire season” they publish monthly … Read more
As of June 2026, 61% of the contiguous United States is experiencing some form of drought, affecting nearly two out of every three Americans. From extreme drought in the Southeast to a millennium-scale crisis in the Colorado River basin, the country is drying out on a scale with few modern precedents. Here is what broke … Read more