CNN-Weather/Environment

By Aya Elamroussi, CNN (CNN) — The brunt of extreme heat that has been choking the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions this week is expected to end late Saturday, but many in the southern US are set to endure suffocating temperatures for a few more days as heat-related deaths rise. More than 100 million people in

By Aya Elamroussi and Eric Zerkel, CNN (CNN) — Scorching temperatures will reach peak intensity for millions from the Midwest to the Northeast on Friday into Saturday, as other areas that have been suffering for weeks take grim steps to deal with the rising human cost of a record-long heat wave during the planet’s hottest

By Aya Elamroussi and Eric Zerkel, CNN (CNN) — Dangerously high temperatures that have already proven deadly in multiple states are expanding as far east as the Northeast, as they also threaten ocean ecosystems and fuel destructive wildfires that emit harmful particulates. More than 100 million people from California to Massachusetts were under some kind

By Elizabeth Wolfe and Joe Sutton, CNN (CNN) — Smoke from more than 1,000 wildfires burning across Canada has wafted over the northern US, bringing poor air quality and pollution that threaten residents’ health to northern US cities including Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit, Michigan, were ranked among the most polluted

By Sara Smart and Caroll Alvarado, CNN (CNN) — Kentucky’s governor declared an emergency Wednesday after heavy – and potentially record-setting – rain caused widespread flooding throughout the state. The western town of Mayfield saw 11.28 inches of rain from early Wednesday to 1 p.m., the National Weather Service in Paducah said. If verified, that

By Eric Zerkel, CNN (CNN) — A tornado in North Carolina severely damaged a Pfizer plant, damaged several other structures, shut down a major interstate and injured at least 16 people Wednesday afternoon. The tornado was on the ground for 16.5 miles, lasting about 30 minutes, and produced peak winds of 150 mph, an EF-3

By Robert Shackelford and Aya Elamroussi, CNN (CNN) — Tropical Storm Calvin was bringing heavy rain to Hawaii’s Big Island on Wednesday. Packing winds of 45 mph, Calvin was about 205 miles southwest of Hilo on Wednesday morning, according to an update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm is delivering strong winds and heavy

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist (CNN) — As the unrelenting heat wave in the US enters its 39th consecutive day, millions of people from California to Florida are asking: When will it end? The long-term forecast looks bleak. The extreme heat could continue into August in some of the hardest-hit areas and even a brief

By Taylor Ward, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — Hawaii’s Big Island is under a tropical storm warning as Tropical Storm Calvin is forecast to pass over or just south of the island, threatening to bring dangerous coastal surf, heavy rain and gusty winds to the area, according to the National Hurricane Center. Calvin is expected to

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist (CNN) — The Atlantic hurricane season is headed into uncharted territory with water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico warmer than they have ever been on record. Seasonal forecasters are warning it means you need to prepare for a more uncertain forecast for the rest of

By Paula Newton, CNN Chibougamau, Quebec (CNN) — By the time the Silver State Hotshot crew arrived from Nevada a few weeks ago, Canada’s wildfires had already scorched millions of acres and shattered all-time burning records. So everyone already knew what they were up against. “In the scope for us, in the states, this would

By Nouran Salahieh, Danny Freeman and Holly Yan, CNN (CNN) — Authorities have identified the two children still missing nearly two days after they were swept away by turbulent floodwaters that killed their mother. Matilda “Mattie” Sheils, 2, and her 9-month-old brother, Conrad Sheils, vanished after intense flooding engulfed parts of southeast Pennsylvania on Saturday

By Caitlin Kaiser, CNN (CNN) — Canadian wildfire smoke is bringing unhealthy air across the northern tier of the United States to start the week, triggering air quality alerts for more than a dozen states from Montana to Vermont. Forecasters predicted around 70 million people would see decreased visibility and poor air quality, including residents

By Christina Maxouris, Lauren Mascarenhas, Melissa Alonso and Caitlin Kaiser, CNN (CNN) — Authorities in southeastern Pennsylvania are searching for a 2-year-old girl and her 9-month-old brother who vanished in raging floodwaters as a violent storm slammed the region. The children and their family, who were visiting from Charleston, South Carolina, were driving to a

By Elizabeth Wolfe and Caitlin Kaiser, CNN (CNN) — More than 85 million people remained under heat alerts Saturday as the weekslong heat wave continues and intensifies in the Southwest. Dangerously high temperatures will continue to plague the Western United States throughout the weekend, with temperatures growing hotter in the South early next week. “Daytime

By Emma Tucker, CNN (CNN) — A derecho is a significant, potentially destructive weather event that is characterized as having widespread, long-lived, straight-line winds associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms. Here’s what you need to know about derechos: They can produce hurricane-force winds While there’s no official or universal definition for a derecho,

By Brandon Miller, Nick Thompson and Jennifer Gray, CNN (CNN) — El Niño is a climate pattern that originates in the Pacific Ocean along the equator and impacts weather all over the world. Warm water normally is confined to the western Pacific by winds that blow from east to west, pushing it toward Indonesia and

By Eric Zerkel, CNN (CNN) — An already dangerous weekslong heat wave will only worsen this weekend as a heat dome intensifies and reaches peak strength over parts of the Western United States. The heat dome is so formidable the National Weather Service in Phoenix called it “one of the strongest high pressure systems this

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist (CNN) — Phoenix is supposed to be hot, but the severity of the upcoming heat wave will bring a level of heat that will test even heat-hardy places and do so for longer durations than have ever been observed before. The heat is hitting South Texas, South Florida and the

By Lauren Mascarenhas and Nouran Salahieh, CNN (CNN) — Intense rain and flash flooding that left at least one dead in southeastern New York continued to pelt the Northeast on Monday, forcing residents from their homes and prompting road closures and water rescues. Over 9 million people are under flood alerts across the Northeast on

By Dave Alsup, CNN (CNN) — Clean-up efforts are underway at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming after a major windstorm blew across the southern portion of the park Monday, knocking down hundreds of trees, park officials said. Strong winds and rain bombarded the park’s Lake Village area, though no serious injuries have been reported, according

By Joe Sutton, Gene Norman, Zoe Sottile and Rob Shackelford, CNN (CNN) — Over 80 million people are under severe storm threat from northern Mississippi to Massachusetts Monday ahead of the Fourth of July – threatening more damaging wind gusts, power outages, large hail and possible tornadoes. A slight risk for severe storms, level 2

By Allison Chinchar, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — Mother Nature will threaten Fourth of July travel and holiday plans as severe storms, record heat and wildfire smoke converge on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. AAA projects more than 50 million people will take to the roads or skies over the next few

By Taylor Ward and Monica Garrett, CNN (CNN) — A heat wave in parts of the South and Mississippi Valley is peaking and a new one is building in the West on Friday, putting more than 70 million people in those areas under heat alerts ahead of the holiday weekend. More dangerous severe thunderstorms and

By Aya Elamroussi, CNN and Taylor Ward, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — More than 100 million people are under air quality alerts Friday morning from Wisconsin to Vermont and down to North Carolina as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to waft south, though conditions are expected to improve slowly into the holiday weekend. Storms Thursday brought

By Angela Fritz, CNN (CNN) — A powerful thunderstorm complex was racing across the Midwest Thursday afternoon, blowing through the harmful smoke from Canada’s wildfires and clearing the air in its wake. The storm – referred to as a bow echo because of its arc-like appearance on radar – has a history of producing wind

By Nouran Salahieh and Taylor Ward, CNN (CNN) — More than 55 million people from southern Arizona to the Florida coast are sweltering under a worsening heat wave that is expected to expand its reach this week, bringing more dangerous triple-digit temperatures. Excessive heat warnings, the highest criteria of heat alerts, include Dallas, New Orleans

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist (CNN) — Parts of Texas have been roasting for more than two weeks and flirting with the state’s record high temperature, and now, temperatures could get even hotter and expand to other areas across the South. “Many areas outside south and south-central Texas (will) experience their most significant heat of

By Jennifer Gray, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — Summer is notorious for producing punishing heat waves, often referred to as heat domes. A heat dome occurs when a ridge of high pressure builds over an area and doesn’t move for up to a week or more. High pressure results in fair weather with lots of sunshine

By Jennifer Gray and Tina Burnside, CNN (CNN) — Nearly 100 people attending a concert Wednesday evening at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver were injured after being pelted with large hail during severe storms that moved across the area, a fire department said. At least seven people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries,

By Elizabeth Wolfe and Robert Shackelford, CNN (CNN) — Tropical Storm Bret continued to strike eastern Caribbean islands early Friday, pelting the region with stiff winds and heavy rain that could cause flooding and dangerous surf. Bret, earlier packing near-hurricane-force sustained winds of 70 mph, weakened slightly to 60 mph with even higher gusts and

By Jennifer Gray, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — Tropical Storm Bret again strengthened slightly during the day Wednesday and is forecast to reach the Lesser Antilles on Thursday as a strong tropical storm. Now packing 65 mph winds, the storm is likely already near its peak intensity. “Little change in strength is forecast during the next

By Chris Boyette and Kelly Murray, CNN (CNN) — Following a weekend of devastating storms, hundreds of thousands of customers are without power in areas of the South and Southwest now facing scorching heat. As of Tuesday, more than 38 million Americans are under active extreme heat advisories, watches, and warnings, according to the National

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist (CNN) — Tropical Storm Bret could reach the Lesser Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea by late Thursday. But the storm is not expected to become a rare June hurricane as had been previously thought, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday. Bret, centered in the Atlantic hundreds of miles east

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist (CNN) — People in the South are storm weary. I’ve heard it from friends and family in my home state of Louisiana, where storms have hit exceptionally hard, and the damage extends much further. Six tornadoes were reported in Mississippi alone in the last 24 hours, and strong storms are

By Dave Hennen, CNN Meteorologist and Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — A tropical storm named Bret has formed over the central Atlantic Ocean and will likely become a hurricane on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said Monday afternoon. The storm now has winds of 40 mph and continues to move quickly to the west, according

By Nouran Salahieh and Rob Shackelford, CNN (CNN) — At least one person was killed and nearly two dozen injured in storms that swept through Mississippi on Sunday night, and more than 50 million across the Southeast face the threat of more severe weather, including tornadoes, on Monday. A storm system spawned a reported tornado

By Gene Norman, Nouran Salahieh and Eric Levenson, CNN (CNN) — About 43 million people across the southern United States are at risk for severe weather Sunday night as storms batter the Lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf Coast states, bringing the threat of heavy rain, hail and damaging winds. There is an enhanced risk

By Aya Elamroussi, Dave Alsup, Melissa Alonso and Mallika Kallingal, CNN (CNN) — A heightened risk of severe weather is expected across a large swath of the southern United States on Saturday and Sunday – days after storms cut a deadly path across Texas, Florida and Mississippi. The Storm Prediction Center said the enhanced risk

By Jennifer Gray, Dave Alsup and Sara Smart, CNN (CNN) — The state of Texas as well as cities and counties surrounding the Panhandle town of Perryton are sending aid after a deadly tornado ripped through the area Thursday afternoon. At least three people have died, Perryton Fire Department Chief Paul Dutcher told CNN Thursday

By Sara Smart, Taylor Ward and Aya Elamroussi, CNN (CNN) — Thick plumes of smoke from dozens of wildfires raging in Ontario, Canada, are billowing across the US border, compromising the air quality for millions of residents in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. “Smoky skies and poor air quality will continue through Thursday,” the National Weather

By Robert Shackelford, CNN meteorologist, and Steve Almasy, CNN (CNN) — More than a hundred thousand were without power Wednesday night as severe weather produced tornadoes, high winds and large hail that prompted more than 250 storm reports in the South. As of 3 a.m. ET, more than 135,000 homes and businesses in the region

By Jennifer Gray, CNN (CNN) — What we saw unfold along the Eastern Seaboard last week was surreal. The smoke-filled skies across the skyline of Big Apple and the nation’s capital, professional sporting events being postponed. It was like something out of a movie. But just because the smoke has mostly cleared for now doesn’t

By Caitlin Kaiser, CNN (CNN) — More than 60 million people from Colorado to the Carolinas are under threat for severe storms Sunday, including heavy rain, hail and tornadoes, with the lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys at greatest threat. Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms could hit the region this afternoon and evening, according to the

By Amy O’Kruk, CNN The Great Plains has long been considered the country’s tornado hotbed, thanks to movies like “The Wizard of Oz” and “Twister.” But in the past two decades, a swath of the southeastern US has proven much more deadly, resulting in close to a thousand deaths in the last 25 years. Some

By Aya Elamroussi and Holly Yan, CNN (CNN) — Major US cities trapped under a thick, orange blanket of smog this week will soon get a reprieve, as the Canadian wildfires spewing noxious fumes across the border are easing up. Fire activity in the province of Quebec has improved, and the area covered by smoke

By Angela Fritz, CNN (CNN) — The photos and videos out of the Northeast look like scenes from “Mad Max,” as a monstrous cloud of smoke spewed by Quebec’s wildfires engulfed communities. The air is an eerie shade of orange and the visibility is low. Distant buildings that you would otherwise be able to see

By Aya Elamroussi and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN (CNN) — Around 75 million people in the United States are experiencing dangerous air conditions because of smoke from wildfires raging across Canada, with officials urging them to limit time outdoors and mask up for safety. Forecasts show the dangerous air conditions could linger for days but are

By Brandon Miller, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — A plume of thick smoke streamed south from Canada throughout the day Wednesday, moving into some of the most densely populated regions in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, including the New York City metro area. It prompted significant concern from health professionals, forced a ground stop at a major

By Jennifer Gray, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — After weeks of reporting about the wildfires in Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, Quebec is now the latest hotspot for fires in Canada. More than 8 million acres have burned this year across Canada, with nearly half a million acres in Quebec alone, which is sending thick

By Michelle Watson and Emma Tucker, CNN (CNN) — Canadian officials announced a fine of more than $18,000 on Wednesday for anyone in Nova Scotia who violates a province-wide burn ban implemented this week as wildfires continue to rage in the region, which has prompted air quality alerts in the northeastern US. The fires, which

By Michelle Watson, Derek Van Dam and Emma Tucker, CNN (CNN) — Smoke and haze from wildfires raging in Nova Scotia will linger in portions of the US Northeast on Wednesday, prompting air quality alerts for New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, including the Philadelphia area. The National Weather Service has issued a Code Orange air

CNN Editorial Research (CNN) — Here is a look at the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season. Past coverage of the 2022 and 2021 hurricane season and the latest weather news can also be found on CNN. Follow the storm tracker for the path and forecasts of the latest storm. Facts The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season runs

By Brandon Miller, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — This year’s Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be near average, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. Forecasters at the agency are predicting 12 to 17 named tropical storms, five to nine of which could become hurricanes. They expect as many of four of

CNN Editorial Research (CNN) — Here’s a look at the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. Facts The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines a hurricane as “an intense tropical weather system with well-defined circulation and sustained winds of 74 mph (64 knots) or higher.” In the western North

By Elizabeth Wolfe and Rob Shackelford, CNN (CNN) — The governor of Guam urged residents to continue staying home for their protection and safety a day after the strongest storm to impact the US territory in decades slammed into the island. The eye of Typhoon Mawar passed just north of Guam, but the eyewall –

By Haley Brink, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1, but weather does not always follow the calendar and forecasters are already monitoring a system in the Atlantic this week. The National Hurricane Center has highlighted an area of showers and thunderstorms northeast of the central Bahamas with a low chance of

By Jennifer Gray, CNN Meteorologist The West has taken a dive straight into summer, with temperatures well above those normally seen even at the end of July. Record-breaking temperatures and a heat wave will continue to grip the entire region through much of this week. Yesterday, several locations across the Pacific Northwest broke daily high

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist More than 50 high temperature records could be broken through Monday as heat builds across the western US and Canada. Temperatures will run as much as 25 degrees above normal, with temperatures possibly hitting 90 degrees this weekend or early next week in Seattle. If this happens, this would be

By Jennifer Gray, CNN meteorologist Spring rains will soak the South this week, which could put millions of people at risk of flash flooding, with the Weather Prediction Center highlighting an area that puts Houston in the bullseye for the worst of the potential flooding. “Instances of flash flooding are considered likely from the middle

By Nouran Salahieh, Tina Burnside and Amy Simonson, CNN Close to 100 wildfires raging across the Alberta region of Canada have forced more than 29,000 people to flee in what officials have called an “unprecedented situation” for the province. In the past 24 hours alone, 16 new fires have ignited in Alberta, Wildfire Information Unit

By Dave Alsup, Matt Phillips and Emma Tucker, CNN Almost 25,000 people who live in the Canadian province of Alberta have been evacuated as wildfires rage across the region, which is seeing abnormally hot weather and high winds, emergency officials said Saturday. There are at least 103 wildfires burning across the western province, Alberta Premier

By Jennifer Gray, CNN Meteorologist and Madison Richardson, CNN The strength of tornadoes is rated on the Enhanced Fujita, or EF, Scale. The scale runs from 0 to 5 and rates tornadoes after they’ve hit by assessing damage to determine wind speed. Estimates are based on damage to trees, institutional buildings and homes, making it

By Allison Chinchar, CNN Meteorologist More than 20 million people in the Southeast have the potential for severe storms this weekend, including possible tornadoes, waterspouts, hail and damaging winds. “Yet another round or two of severe weather and heavy rainfall is expected over the weekend,” the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee said. “Still some

By Aya Elamroussi and Dave Hennen, CNN Parts of the South are yet again at risk of facing severe storms Friday that could bring damaging winds, large hail and the possibility of tornadoes to millions in north-central Texas. More than 12 million people in Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, are under a significant risk

By Jennifer Gray, CNN Meteorologist Tornadoes are among the most destructive forces in nature. They can level well-built structures, uproot trees, toss semitrailers — and kill. Tornadoes are most common in the US Plains and Southeast but have been reported in all 50 states. They can happen during the day or at night and in