Rapid Climate Change

While the most significant harm from climate change so far has been in the polar regions, tropical plants and animals may face an even greater threat, say scientists who studied conditions in Costa Rica.

The news article is a partial list of wildfires in Ca. Locally, in Lake County, the rainy season ended in mid Feb. It usually goes to mid May. In addition, there have been unusually frequent high winds contributing to drying things out. The air around here looks like a bad day in LA in the late 60s. A rough wildfire season ahead.

Rising rivers wiped out an Iowa railroad bridge Tuesday, flooded Illinois farmland and forced residents along the Mississippi River to prepare for what could be the worst flooding in 15 years.

Heavy storms continued to wreak havoc from the Midwest to the East Coast on Sunday, forcing evacuations and threatening levees as lakes and rivers swelled.

Firefighters have made some progress in battling three of four Florida wildfires, but the largest blaze was still frustrating efforts to contain it Monday, authorities said.

Powerful storms killed 22 people in three states over the weekend, including an Oklahoma mother who died while huddling over her child, authorities said. Her son survived with facial injuries.

Myanmar's cyclone survivors have insufficient fuel to burn the rotting corpses of the dead as the country's military junta continues to block access for aid groups.

The death toll from the tropical cyclone that slammed into Myanmar three days ago may rise to 10,000, making the storm Southeast Asia's deadliest natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for in a single town after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station said Monday.

Crops in the tropics will do worse, since extra heat where it's already hot hurts more than it helps.