Mother Nature's Pissed

(AP) - More than 30,000 people were urged to leave their flood-endangered western Washington homes as snowmelt and rain swelled rivers and caused mudslides and avalanches that engulfed neighborhoods and roadways. Warmer temperatures and heavy rains were rapidly melting the deep snow that dumped on the Cascade mountains over the weekend. More »

(Newser) - Holiday travelers may be in for more trouble this weekend, USA Today reports. Snow is expected from Montana to New Mexico, rain in the Midwest could cause flooding, and the South can expect heavy thunderstorms and possibly a few tornadoes. "It's going to be a wild ride," said one meteorologist. Travelers already have been delayed or stranded throughout the country. More »

(Newser) - Huge swaths of the Rocky Mountain landscape is being transformed as the region's signature tree, the aspen, goes into rapid decline, reports the Smithsonian. Climate change and surging population of the bark beetle is causing the grim phenomenon known as SAD (sudden aspen decline). The beetle is a mere twelfth-of-an-inch long but is capable, en masse, of cutting off trees’ nutrient supply. More »

(Newser) - Brutally cold temperatures are buffeting the Midwest today, and states of emergency remain in effect throughout the Northeast following a devastating ice storm that left more than 400,000 people without power, USA Today reports. Schools were closed in Massachusetts and crews from up and down the Eastern seaboard rushed to repair power lines before more nasty weather hits in the next day or two. More »

(Newser) - Schools were shut down and major highways closed, stranding some drivers for 24 hours, as South Dakota was buried by up to four feet of snow in the first major snowstorm of the season yesterday. "We can't see a thing in many areas where we're out searching for people," said one rescue manager. "It's very dangerous out there." More »

(Newser) - Researchers are perplexed about Maine’s “waves of biblical proportion” that had residents fearing the apocalypse last week, the Boston Globe reports. Just before low tide, New England harbors were flooded with 12 feet of water, which then receded in massive whirlpools, repeating three times in 15 minutes. The occurrence—similar to a 1992 Florida storm—is so unusual it is nameless. More »

(Newser) - Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton called today for more money to aid Texas communities devastated by Hurricane Ike, the Houston Chronicle reports. The pair, who toured the Galveston area, has raised $1.5 million for their Bush-Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund. The money will be used to augment state and local efforts once reconstruction begins. More »