Weather

Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: A photo of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in front of a green screen was taken in Kyiv for a virtual conference address, not outside of the country. A video claiming to show a Russian missile was created using visual effects. A man who was charged with child pornography didn’t work for Drag Queen Story Hour. A video shows dead sheep in the country of Georgia, not Idaho. And an image purporting to show a headline from The Atlantic about “Biden’s bike fall” is fabricated.

A heat wave that's already lasted more than a week keeps on baking the US, Asia and even the Arctic. At least nine US states Thursday hit 100 degrees, that's after 12 did that on Wednesday. Records keep falling. A city in the Russian Arctic hit nearly 90 degrees. This early summer heat wave looks and feels more like August. Scientists say it has all the hallmarks of climate change. In Macon, Georgia, the temperature ramped from 64 to 105 degrees on Wednesday and then hit 104, a further record, on Thursday.

The company that operated a Kentucky candle factory leveled by a deadly tornado last winter is planning to ramp up production. Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday that Mayfield Consumer Products plans a $33 million investment at a nearby plant. It plans to employ more than 500 people full time in the next five years at its factory in Hickory. Its plant in Mayfield, Kentucky, took a direct hit from a tornado that devastated the town last December. Beshear touted the economic development news without mentioning workplace citations against the company. State officials recently cited the company for alleged violations of occupational safety and health laws.

Authorities in Los Angeles County say a woman and two dogs found dead on a path were struck by lightning. A sheriff's official says the bodies were found Wednesday morning along the San Gabriel River in Pico Rivera. Thunderstorms with lightning and downpours began rumbling across Southern California before dawn as a low-pressure system off the coast pulls monsoonal moisture into the region. The National Weather Service says the weather will become calmer on Thursday and then return to more typical June conditions.

Throngs of tourists have gleefully returned to watch geysers erupt and bison cross roads at Yellowstone National Park as it partially reopens following destructive floods. Park managers raised the gates Wednesday at three of Yellowstone’s five entrances for the first time since June 13. That day, 10,000 visitors were ordered out after rivers across northern Wyoming and southern Montana surged over their banks following a torrent of rainfall that accelerated the spring snowmelt. The cost and scope of the damage is still being assessed.

Yellowstone National Park has partially reopened following record floods that reshaped its rivers and canyons, wiped out roads and left some areas inaccessible.

In a story published June 18, 2022, The Associated Press reported that Yellowstone National Park was already due to receive funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, a 2020 law passed by Congress that authorizes nearly $3 billion for maintenance and other projects on public lands. The story should have made clear that national parks and other public lands will receive a similar amount yearly for five years.

Federal officials say most of Yellowstone National Park should reopen within the next two weeks. Record floods pounded the region last week and knocked out major roads. Yellowstone's superintendent said the park will be able to accommodate fewer visitors for the time being, and it will take many months to re-connect the world-renowned park's roads with some southern Montana communities. Yellowstone will partially reopen at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Only portions of the park that can be accessed along its “southern loop” of roads will be opened initially and access to the park’s scenic backcountry will be for day hikers only. Within two weeks officials plan to also open the northern loop.

A culmination of unique events led to the recent extensive flooding in the Yellowstone region. Water quickly rose in an area that was in an extended drought, forcing officials to race to save homes, roads and towns. Mountain snow accumulated in the late spring. During a warm stretch, rain fell and melted snowpack, causing a tremendous amount of water to flow down the mountains. The resulting flood raged higher and faster than the rare benchmark 500-year storm. La Nina conditions occur when parts of the Pacific cool and while those conditions keep the Southwest dry, they can lead to more rain and snow in the Northwest. It is another extreme weather event in a warming world.

Crews battling a pair of wildfires in northern Arizona were expecting some growth Thursday because of warm, dry and breezy weather. Both blazes were moving through grass, brush and pine trees on the northern outskirts of Flagstaff. The larger fire has burned more than 38 square miles and was 27% contained Thursday. A smaller fire is burning in the same region. The forecast calls for chances of showers and thunderstorms starting Friday and through the weekend, which could help suppress the wildfires. Flooding and dry lightning are also concerns. The largest wildfire in the U.S. is burning in northern New Mexico.