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The rain that fell on California in recent weeks could have supplied the state’s water needs for 10 years — if it had been captured and stored. Unfortunately, most of the water is being left to drain to the Pacific Ocean. California received some 32 trillion gallons of water in three weeks of “atmospheric river” storms across the state, according to Fox News. In 2014, the state used 42 million acre feet, or about 1.4 trillion gallons, annually, according to the Desert Sun, citing the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). (A more recent figure from USGS suggests the state withdraws up...

Torrential rain caused severe flooding in southern China’s Guangxi Province, affecting a population of more than a million. However, China’s state broadcaster CCTV shifted attention to what it called “golden waterfall.”Heavy rain swept northern and central Guangxi from June 27 to July 2, causing damage to a population of a million people in 46 counties, according to China’s outlets. The level of emergency response was upgraded from four to three. So far, 91,500 residents have been displaced, 16 killed, and 10 are missing, while direct financial losses reached 2.9 billion yuan (about $453 million).However, a July 3 report by state...

Flooding as a result of heavy rainfall in Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces caused the Yangtze River to overflow in recent days, inundating cities in China’s western regions.The Yangtze’s water level in Chongqing city may exceed the safety level on Aug. 19, which means an embankment breach could happen at any time, according to state-run broadcaster CCTV, which cited officials.China’s cabinet-like State Council said at a press conference on Aug. 13 that rainfall in areas along the Yangtze and Huai rivers have reached their highest levels since 1961.A woman uses a bike to cross a flooded street after a sudden...

California Is About To Get Pummeled With Rivers Of Rain Mark Fischetti, Scientific AmericanNovember 30, 2012An atmospheric river (thin yellow band) feeds torrential rain into northern California on Nov. 30. Northern California is experiencing the first days of what weather forecasters are warning will be a long series of torrential rainstorms that could cause serious flooding across the northern one-third of the state. The relentless storms are being driven by a feature in the atmosphere you have probably never heard of: an atmospheric river. Oh, and another atmospheric river created the worst flooding since the 1960s in western England and...

A wet weather pattern is continuing to set up across the Southern United States from Texas through the Lower Mississippi Valley and into the Tennessee Valley for this week. We are definitely in need of some rainfall to help break drought conditions in Texas but too much rain too fast is not good either.

Wave of low pressure east of Norfolk VA moving towards New England. Will it be a tropical storm and what can they expect?

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey threw a bucket of cold water on the Obama administration’s foreign policy agenda Thursday, admitting serious doubt about success in Afghanistan and Pakistan and no appetite for helping the International Monetary Fund until European allies do more to stimulate their economies.

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Rita's wind and rain breached two of New Orleans' battered levees Friday and sent water gushing into already-devastated neighborhoods just days after they had been pumped dry. In the impoverished Ninth Ward, water streamed through gaps at least 100 feet wide in a levee and was soon waist-deep on a nearby street. It began covering buckled homes, piles of rubble and mud-caked cars that Katrina had swamped with up to 20 feet of water nearly a month ago. Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers said other levees appeared secure, including those breached during Katrina, but...

Introduction During the last week, the weather in Venezuela has been extremely atypical with rainfall establishing records and flash floods killing over one hundred people while thousands have lost their homes. This is obviously an abnormal natural phenomenon and nobody can be blamed for it. However, the case of Vargas state, a densely populated and small state north of Caracas, is very particular, because that state was the victim of an even larger tragedy in December 99, when tens of thousands were killed due to generalized mudslides. That tragedy was like nothing Venezuela had ever seen in its history, coinciding...

PHOENIX (AP) -- Heavy winter rains that have drenched the Southwest may mean a delayed, less severe fire season. That's the word from the Southwest Interagency Coordination Center in New Mexico. The concern this year, however, may focus on the lower elevations instead of the forests. The wet weather this winter poses a greater threat of brush fires in lower elevations. State forester Kirk Rowdabaugh says that a lot of the risk for desert brush fires will depend on how much moisture the remaining winter and spring months bring. The longer the moisture lingers, the taller and thicker the brush...

There have been huge disastrous floods in Guyana and the nation is openly appealing for help from the American military. This may seem like an old story, but it's not. I hope we help Guyana. There are good reasons, and it's in everyone's interest. The tsunami relief effort got word to the world that when you are in deep trouble, America is the one, the only one, you can reliably turn to. Swift efficient help to impossible areas, soldiers who are friendly and compassionate, soldiers who won't shake you down, soldiers who will treat you with dignity and help you...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Recent rains across much of the West have brightened the outlook for the current wildfire season, an improvement over previous forecasts that predicted another catastrophic year like 2003, a top federal official said Wednesday. "All in all, it's not going to be as severe as 2003," Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke said after a briefing at the National Interagency Fire Center and meetings with firefighters. "I think we're going to be able to get through this season just fine." Over 4.8 million acres have burned so far this year; 4.5 million acres were in...

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A powerful windstorm lashed the Reno area Saturday, causing major property damage, flight cancellations and scattered power outages. Gusts reached up to 82 mph in Reno and 134 mph on the Sierra Nevada crest in advance of a storm expected to dump up to 2 feet of snow in the mountains, according to the National Weather Service. "It's the strongest winds we've ever recorded in Reno," said weather service forecaster Tom Cylke. "What we saw today were hurricane-force winds." Meanwhile, in Northern California, rain-swollen rivers rose to flood levels, while high winds, dangerous surf, snow and...