"Steve Perrins didn’t see the lightning, but he couldn’t miss the smoke that followed. It was around dinnertime on July 23 at Alaska’s oldest hunting lodge, nestled in the wilderness more than 100 miles northwest of Anchorage. What began as a quiet evening at the Rainy Pass Lodge soon turned frantic as Alaska’s latest wildfire spread fast."

"A fire at an Exxon Mobil plant in Baytown Wednesday morning injured 37 people and sent a plume of smoke over a Houston-area chemical facility for the fourth time since April."

"President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone Wednesday to offer assistance in fighting forest fires raging in the eastern parts of the country, according to the Kremlin."

"More than half a million Russians have demanded the authorities do more to tackle vast wildfires in Siberia that environmentalists have dubbed an ecological catastrophe, but which officials have said would be “pointless” to put out."

"In many coastal states, flood-prone areas have seen the highest rates of home construction since 2010, a study found, suggesting that the risks of climate change have yet to fundamentally change people’s behavior."

"Of small communities across 11 states, more than 500 have a higher wildfire hazard potential than Paradise, Calif."

"More than 100 intense wildfires have ravaged the Arctic since June, with scientists describing the blazes as 'unprecedented.'"

"Severe droughts parched western North America hundreds of years ago. They may return, thanks to climate change."

"It technically began last fall when Hurricane Florence swelled the Ohio River, but really it was all the unnamed storms that came after it — one after another after another, bringing rain on rain on rain across the central U.S. until the Mississippi River hit flood stage this winter."

"Robert Henry is driving along the top of a Mississippi River levee, giving me a tour of land where he'd love to be planting soybeans right now. We're just east of New Madrid, Mo."