The Columbian

Weather & Climate

Fire crews battle the Tunnel Five Fire in the Columbia River Gorge on July 7.

EPA clears WA to do more controlled burns to prevent wildfires

August 14, 2023, 8:00am Latest News

Washington firefighters now have more planning time and a longer season to ignite the controlled burns they use to prevent massive wildfires threatening landscapes and homes and blanketing the state in choking smoke. Read story

A professor of the British Antarctic Survey shows a picture of one of the bases in the Antarctic region of Polar Science for a Sustainable Planet, during a visit of the British Antarctic Survey's headquarters in Cambridge, on June 19, 2023, for the launch of the new 10-year BAS science strategy. With research stations transferring to renewable energy and artificial intelligence mapping out fuel-efficient marine routes, the British Antarctic Survey is putting sustainability at the heart of its new 10-year plan.

Antarctica risks ‘cascades of extreme events’ as earth warms, study says

August 12, 2023, 6:17pm Nation & World

Extreme weather in Antarctica, including ocean heat waves and ice loss, is set to become more intense unless urgent policy action reduces the burning of fossil fuels, a new study has found — the latest to sound the alarm on the damage climate change is unleashing. Read story

Cooling centers will open around Clark County next week as temperatures get into triple digits.

As hot weather approaches Clark County, resources ready for people who are unsheltered

August 12, 2023, 6:05am Clark County Health Free

With temperatures forecast in the triple digits early next week, Council for the Homeless has issued a severe hot weather alert for the emergency shelter system Sunday to Thursday. Read story

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Weather Eye: Temps could top 100, heat expected to linger for days

August 12, 2023, 6:00am Clark County News

What a summer we have been having so far. Those 90-degree days earlier in summer are distant memories. I’m afraid the memories will come back as we swelter in the first 100-degree heat of the summer on Sunday. Read story

Mix of conditions is fueling Maui’s devastating fires

August 11, 2023, 4:42pm Nation & World

Hawaii went from lush to bone dry in just a few weeks — a key factor in a dangerous mix of conditions that appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in the state particularly damaging. Read story

Summer Gerlingpicks up her piggy bank found in the rubble of her home following the wildfire Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Death toll from Maui wildfires rises to 67 as survivors begin returning home to assess damage

August 11, 2023, 1:35pm Latest News

The death toll in Maui rose to 67 on Friday as officials confirmed another 12 fatalities from a massive blaze that turned large swaths of a centuries-old town into a hellscape of ashen rubble. Read story

FILE - Wildfire devastation is seen outside the city Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023. Experts say the fires are likely to transform the landscape in unwanted ways, hasten erosion, send sediment into waterways and degrade coral that's critically important to the islands, marine life and people who live near it.

Fast-moving Hawaii fires will take a heavy toll on the state’s environment

August 11, 2023, 8:09am Nation & World

The fast-moving wildfires that raked Maui this week took a heavy toll on humans and property, killing dozens of people and devastating the historic town of Lahaina. But their effects on the landscape and environment in Hawaii are also expected to be significant. Read story

Wildfire wreckage is shown Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the stubborn blaze making it the deadliest in the U.S. in recent years.

Maui surveys the burned wreckage caused by the deadliest U.S. wildfire in years

August 10, 2023, 4:55pm Latest News

A search of the wildfire devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of obliterated neighborhoods and landmarks charred beyond recognition, as the death toll rose to at least 53 and survivors told harrowing tales of narrow escapes with only the clothes on their backs. Read story

The Braskreidfoss Power plant is pictured in Braskereidfoss, Norway, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Authorities in Norway are considering blowing up a dam at risk of bursting after days of heavy rain to prevent downstream communities from getting deluged. The Glama, Norway's longest and most voluminous river, is dammed at the the Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant, which was under water and out of operation on Wednesday.

Norwegians prepare for more flooding and destruction after days of heavy rain

August 10, 2023, 8:26am Nation & World

Rescuers on Thursday evacuated inundated areas of southeastern Norway and residents braced for more landslides and flooding as rivers swollen by days of heavy rain carried large amounts of water through the mountainous landscape. Read story