Record-setting sizzle
By Bob Swanson and Doyle Rice, USATODAY.com

"Phoenix, a city familiar with triple-digit heat, is closing in on a record this summer. Through Aug. 21, there have been 27 days with high temperatures of 110°F or more in 2007. The current record for 110+ days is 28, set in both 2002 and 1979. With 110°F temperatures possible through Friday in Phoenix and still a month to go during which 110°F temperatures are common, there is a high probability that a new record will be set this year.

In the statement regarding the record, the National Weather Service states that the number of 110+ days have been increasing over the years and cites "urbanization and regional/global climate change" as possible causes."

Dean is one for the record books
By Bob Swanson and Doyle Rice, USATODAY.com

"The central pressure of Hurricane Dean at landfall this morning was 906 millibars, the third strongest Atlantic basin hurricane at landfall since record-keeping begain in 1851. Dean's intensity at landfall has only been surpassed by the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane (892 mb) and 1988's Hurricane Gilbert (900 mb)."

(A color-enhanced satellite image of Hurricane Dean as it entered the Yucatan Peninsula near Costa Maya, Mexico, at 4:30 a.m. ET, Tuesday, August 21, 2007. Image courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Here is a list of the Atlantic basin hurricanes that have made landfall as Category 5 storms:
Aug. 21, 2007: Hurricane Dean; near Majahual, Mexico; at least 13 deaths
Aug. 24, 1992: Hurricane Andrew; near Homestead Air Force Base, Florida
Sept. 14, 1988: Hurricane Gilbert; Cancun, Mexico; 327 deaths
Aug. 31, 1979: Hurricane David
Sept. 2, 1977: Hurricane Anita
Sept. 9, 1971: Hurricane Edith; Nicaragua; 30 deaths
Aug. 17, 1969: Hurricane Camille; Mississippi; 256 deaths
Sept. 28, 1955: Hurricane Janet; Chetumal, Mexico; more than 600 deaths
Sept. 16, 1947: Unnamed; Bahamas; 51 deaths
Sept. 3, 1935: Labor Day Hurricane; Florida Keys; 408 deaths
Sept. 5, 1932: Unnamed; Bahamas; deaths not recorded
Sept. 13, 1928: San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane; Puerto Rico; 2,166 deaths

USA TODAY weather focus: "Excessive heat expands extreme drought"
By Bob Swanson and Doyle Rice, USATODAY.com

"After average or even above-average July rainfall, the hot, dry first half of August has plunged much of Alabama into exceptional drought conditions, with extreme drought conditions affecting much of the Southeast and Tennessee Valley. The farmers in Alabama desperately need rainfall as, according the USDA, 76% of Alabama's corn crop is in poor to very poor condition."

(Graphic reprinted from USA TODAY newspaper)

More Weather Stories

Midwest flooding death toll reaches 22
By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press Writer (21 August 2007)

"GAYS MILLS, Wis. - Water-weary residents across the Midwest began counting their losses Tuesday as damage estimates from this weekend's deadly flash floods climbed into the tens of millions. The rain moved into Ohio, where roads flooded, schools canceled classes and residents were rescued from flooded homes by boats.

The death toll from the two storm systems — one in the Upper Midwest and the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin in Texas and Oklahoma — climbed to 22 when searchers found the body of a man tangled in a tree about four miles from his wrecked, upside-down car near a creek south of Lewiston, Minn.

Most of Gays Mills, a village of 640 people in southwestern Wisconsin, had been under water Sunday night. About half of the village was accessible Tuesday, and the growl of sump pumps filled the air as residents made their way back in.

'It's heart-wrenching, man,' said Deb Holtz, 48, who found the furniture shop she runs with her husband in Gay Mills coated with mud. 'Makes me want to cry.'

In the Ohio village of Carey, waist-deep water swirled through the tiny downtown, submerging cars to their rooftops. Dozens of flooded streets made it impossible to cross the town. The Carey Nursing & Rehabilitation Center was evacuated, with 28 residents transferred to a local hospital.

Firefighters used boats to rescue families from flooded homes in Bucyrus after nearly 9 inches of rain fell, and the Upper Sandusky school district in north-central Ohio canceled the first day of school.

In Wisconsin and Minnesota, thousands of homes were damaged: A preliminary survey by the American Red Cross in Minnesota identified about 4,200 affected homes, including 256 complete losses, 338 with major damage and 475 that are still inaccessible, said Kris Eide, the state's director of homeland security and emergency management. " [More of the Story]

Fog shrouds the hillside above old farm buildings, surrounded by flood waters, near La Crescent, Minn., Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007. A powerful storm system that swamped the upper Midwest and killed at least six people moved into Ohio on Tuesday as weary Minnesota residents returned to their water-logged homes. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

NEW FILM RELEASE
wikpedia.org

"The 11th Hour is a 2007 feature film documentary created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio on the state of the natural environment. It was directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners and financed by Adam Lewis, Pierre André Senizergues and Doyle Brunson. Distributed by Warner Independent Pictures. Its world premiere was at the 2007 60th Annual Cannes Film Festival and was released on August 17th, 2007.

Synopsis
With the contributions of over fifty of the world's most prominent thinkers and activists, including reformer Mikhail Gorbachev, physicist Stephen Hawking, and Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, the film documents the grave problems facing the planet's life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans' habitats are all addressed. The film's premise is that the future of humanity is in jeopardy.

The film offers hope and potential solutions to these problems by calling for restorative action by the reshaping and rethinking of global human activity through technology and social responsibility and conservation. Scientists and environmental advocates such as David Orr, David Suzuki, and Gloria Flora paint a portrait for a radically new and different future in which it is not humanity's intent to dominate the planet's life systems, but to mimic and coexist with them. " [More Info]

Click here to view film trailor.