Fires in Canada have sent smoke across several US states, leaving cities including New York, Chicago and Denver with some of the worst air quality in the world – even far from the flames.
Fires are increasing in high mountain areas that rarely burned in the past.
John McColgan, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service
Reservoirs and streams are in good shape in California and the Great Basin, but groundwater and ecosystems are another story. And then there’s the Colorado River Basin.
A gray wolf in Yellowstone National Park.
NPS/Jim Peaco
Less than a century ago, Colorado hunted, trapped and poisoned all the wolves within its borders. Today it’s restoring them – a change that reflects a profound shift in human thinking.
The fire risk goes beyond rising temperatures and dry conditions.
Samuel Corum / AFP via Getty Images
Noxious smells and blowing ash initially made the homes unlivable. But even after their homes were cleaned, some residents still reported health effects months later.
Jackson State Tigers coach Deion Sanders greets right tackle Deontae Graham during the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17, 2022.
Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
While Sanders deftly played the game of Black respectability politics during his short tenure, Jackson State had motives of its own when it hired the former NFL star.
Only about 1 in 3 LGBTQ victims of violent hate crimes seek professional help for mental health issues that emerge after an attack.
Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Supreme Court’s initial questions during the 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis opening arguments focused on whether the case might be premature, and what kind of discrimination is at play
Flowers at a memorial near Club Q
RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Colorado is one of 19 states that have laws in place to prevent individuals believed to pose a threat from obtaining guns. But a preventive order needs to be petitioned before it can be issued.
There’s a lot of science behind the natural forces that let this guy work his magic at the beach.
Victoria Pickering/Flickr
From capillary forces to sand grain shape, the simple mix of sand and water hides the complexity within.
Anti-abortion protesters use bullhorns to counter abortion rights advocates outside the Supreme Court on May 3, 2022.
Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images
25 states aren’t expected to ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. But limits on abortion in these places, too, make it an uncertain refuge for people seeking abortions elsewhere.
Colorado River water flows through a canal that feeds farms in Casa Grande, Ariz., on July 22, 2021.
AP Photo/Darryl Webb
Agreements negotiated a century ago to share water on Western rivers among states are showing their age in a time of water scarcity.
Assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization can help expand families, but regulations aren’t consistent across states.
moodboard/Image Source via Getty Images
A pending bill in Colorado would disclose donor information to children and their parents and set limits on how many families can use a single individual’s egg or sperm.
Cloud seeding equipment near Winter Park in Colorado.
Denver Water
Several states are experimenting with weather modification to try to generate snow as water supplies shrink. An atmospheric scientist explains the history behind it – and the challenges.
Washington state was home to some of the nation’s first dispensaries for legalized marijuana.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon all experienced big increases in both deposits and lending shortly after legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
Residents had to be rescued as Hurricane Ida flooded coastal Louisiana in August 2021.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
A hurricane that wreaked havoc from Louisiana to New York City, the Texas freeze and devastating western wildfires topped NOAA’s list of billion-dollar disasters in 2021.
Water flows into a canal that feeds farms in Casa Grande, Ariz.
AP Photo/Darryl Webb
More than 40 fire scientists and forest ecologists in the US and Canada teamed up to investigate why wildfires are getting more extreme. Climate change is part of the problem, but there’s more.
Colorado’s East Troublesome Fire jumped the Continental Divide on Oct. 22, 2020, and eventually became Colorado’s second-largest fire on record.
Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory
Scientists studied charcoal layers in the sediment of lake beds across the Rockies to track fires over time. They found increasing fire activity as the climate warmed.