The Columbian

Weather & Climate

Burned landscape with Joshua Trees damaged from the York Fire in the Mojave National Preserve on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Nipton, Calif. The York Fire was partially contained by Tuesday morning after the blaze ignited Friday in a California wildland preserve and spread into Nevada.

Progress made against massive California-Nevada wildfire but flames may burn iconic Joshua trees

August 2, 2023, 9:09am Nation & World

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters aided by rain fought to contain a massive blaze that swept through the California desert into Nevada and could threaten the region’s famous spiky Joshua trees. Read story

FILE - A woman pushes a bicycle past a man cooling himself with a fan at a store on a sweltering day in Beijing, July 24, 2023. Human-caused global warming made July hotter for four out of five people on Earth, according to a new report issued Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, by Climate Central.

Climate change made July hotter for 4 of 5 humans on Earth, scientists find

August 2, 2023, 9:05am Latest News

Human-caused global warming made July hotter for four out of five people on Earth, with more than 2 billion people feeling climate change-boosted warmth daily, according to a flash study. Read story

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers remove fallen debris from a railway track at a flood hit Village in Mentougou district on the outskirts of Beijing on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. China's capital has recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years over the past few days after being deluged with heavy rains from the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri.

Beijing records heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years, causing severe flooding and 21 deaths

August 2, 2023, 8:19am Nation & World

China’s capital has recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years over the past few days after being deluged with heavy rains from the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri. Read story

Naha airport is deserted as it is closed due to approaching typhoon in Naha, Okinawa, southern Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Hundreds of flights into and out of the Naha airport, including a more than a dozen international flights connecting Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei and Shanghai, were canceled, according to the airport.

A powerful typhoon pounds Japan’s Okinawa and injures more than 30 people as it moves toward China

August 2, 2023, 8:16am Nation & World

A powerful typhoon slammed Okinawa and other islands in southwestern Japan Wednesday with high winds injuring more than 30 people as it moved west making its way toward mainland China. Read story

With the golden glow of the sunset, surfer Dylan Sloan, 15, of Huntington Beach, California, gets a coveted tube ride the Seal Beach pier. (Allen J.

Waves along parts of California coast are getting bigger and badder due to climate change, new study says

August 2, 2023, 6:06am Nation & World

The average height of winter waves along parts of the California coast have increased by as much as 1 foot since 1970 largely due to climate change, increasing the threat of sea cliff collapses, according to a new study by UC San Diego. Read story

FILE - A car and a pickup truck are buried in the rubble of what was once a home on the island of Kauai, on Sept. 14, 1992. Two-thirds of the single family homes on Hawaii's most populous island have no hurricane protections. This year's return of El Nino is highlighting this weakness because it boosts the odds that more tropical cyclones will travel through Hawaii's waters this summer and fall.

Hawaii could see a big hurricane season, but most homes aren’t ready

August 1, 2023, 6:00pm Nation & World

Jan Pappas and Ronald Yasuda hired a contractor to fasten the roof of their 1960s-era home to their walls with metal plates and nails so high winds of a potential hurricane wouldn’t blow it away. Read story

A parched summer is posing difficulties for Washington farmers and fish

August 1, 2023, 3:16pm Latest News Free

The record-warm May that burned off a sizable chunk of the state’s snowpack has left flows in many of Washington’s rivers and streams depleted heading into late summer. Read story

Residents walk near a vehicle damaged and left stranded by flood waters in the Mentougou district on the outskirts of Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Chinese state media report some have died and others are missing amid flooding in the mountains surrounding the capital Beijing.

At least 20 dead and 27 missing in floods surrounding China’s capital Beijing, thousands evacuated

August 1, 2023, 8:05am Nation & World

Days of unusually heavy rains around China’s capital, Beijing, have flooded houses, torn apart roads and left at least 20 people dead and 27 missing, state media reported Tuesday. Read story

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

Weather Eye: Pleasant, seasonal weather continues in Clark County

August 1, 2023, 6:03am Clark County News

Pleasant weather continues as we waltz into the last month of summer, and we anticipate what August may bring us. More of the same except, however, we bump the high temperatures from the comfortable and seasonal 80-85 range into the 85- to 90-degree range. How’s that? Kinda from warm to… Read story

Cyanobacteria are microscopic bacteria, otherwise known as blue-green algae, that form harmful blooms during the summer. They flourish in warm, stagnant water filled with nutrients, such as Lacamas Lake as pictured in 2021. Blooms often occur in Vancouver, Lacamas and Round lakes.

Clark County Public Health: Avoid water at Vancouver, Camas lakes

July 31, 2023, 5:26pm Clark County Health

As summer blazes on, local residents may be eager to cool off where they can. But before the community makes its way to the shores, Clark County Public Health advises the public to avoid certain lakes due to the presence of cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae. Read story