Environment

EcoWatch - Major rivers in Russia and Kazakhstan have risen above their embankments, causing more than 120,000 people to have to flee their homes in the worst flooding in some areas in almost a century. Residents along the 1,509-mile Ural River, which flows through Russia and Kazakhstan, were forced to evacuate by its fast-rising waters, reported Reuters.

Guardian -  The US midwest typically spends the start of spring emerging from snow. But this year, after a warm winter left landscapes parched, the region instead was primed to burn. Hundreds of blazes ignited in recent months in states more accustomed to dealing with just dozens for this time of year, as extreme fire behavior defied seasonal norms. Experts say the unusually early and active fire season was a symptom of El Niño, a climate pattern characterized by warmer surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. … But the climate crisis turned up the dial and helped create conditions in the Midwest where winter temperature records were not only broken — they were smashed. ‘This was the strangest winter I have ever seen,’ [said] Stephen Marien, a predictive services fire meteorologist who works for the National Parks Service.