How to activate location based weather alerts on CBS News app
It's just one of the many ways the First Alert Weather Team is keeping you safe and ahead of the storm.
Now, the next time any form of severe weather moves into your specific area, you will get an automated alert sent straight to your phone.
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CBS News
3 minutes ago
- CBS News
Air quality in Minneapolis ranks 2nd worst in the world Friday morning, with alerts stretching another day
The state of Minnesota is entering another in a long string of summer days marred by air quality alerts. Poor air quality will continue through Saturday with lingering wildfire smoke from Canada. WCCO meteorologist Joseph Dames says that the upside is that unseasonably pleasant temperatures have moved in, and will stick around, with highs in the 70s and low humidity. That may be small consolation, as the air quality alert will remain in effect through 5 p.m. on Saturday, with smoke from Canadian wildfires keeping air quality index levels in the unhealthy categories. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has the latest AQI forecasts on its website. According to IQAir, Minneapolis' air quality at the start of the Friday workday ranked as the second-worst among the world's major cities on Thursday afternoon. Only Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo had worse AQI levels. This is one of the longest air quality alerts on record, tying with those issued for St. Louis County during the Greenwood fire in 2021, according to the agency. Dames says our nights remain cool, with lows in the 50s and some patchy morning fog. A few weak systems pass to our west early next week, with low rain chances limited to far western Minnesota. Expect a llight warmup and increased humidity possible by the end of next week, with another chance for rain.
CBS News
33 minutes ago
- CBS News
Grand Canyon, Utah wildfires creating "fire clouds" that can form their own weather systems
Two wildfires burning in the western United States - including one that has become a "megafire" on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon - are so hot that they're spurring the formation of "fire clouds" that can create their own erratic weather systems. In Arizona, the wind-whipped Dragon Bravo Fire that destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge is 9% contained and has charred more than 164 square miles to become the largest fire now burning in the continental U.S. and one of the top 10 largest in recorded Arizona history. Getting around it would be roughly like driving from New York City to Washington, D.C. The formation of one such cloud was caught on video. Another large fire in Monroe, Utah, has burned 75 square miles since July 13 and is 11% contained, officials said Thursday. Evacuation orders were issued Wednesday for several towns in the fire's path, and scorched power poles prompted the shutoff of electricity in other nearby communities in south-central Utah. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared an emergency Thursday as wildfires grew around the state and planned to visit Monroe on Friday. Towering convection clouds known as pyrocumulus clouds have been spotted over Arizona's blaze for seven consecutive days, fueling the fire with dry, powerful winds, fire information officer Lisa Jennings said. They form when air over the fire becomes superheated and rises in a large smoke column. The giant billowing clouds can be seen for hundreds of miles and can resemble an anvil. Their more treacherous big brother, a fire-fueled thunderstorm known as the pyrocumulonimbus cloud, sent rapid winds shooting in all directions this week as a smoke column formed from the Utah fire then collapsed on itself, fire team information officer Jess Clark said. "If they get high enough, they can also create downdrafts, and that's something we really watch out for because that can quickly spread the fire and can be very dangerous for firefighters who are doing their work on the ground," Jennings said. Multiple fire crews in Utah were forced to retreat Wednesday as the unpredictable climate created by the clouds threatened their safety, officials said. Fire crews in both Utah and Arizona had better control of the blazes, but containment has been slipping as the fires grow rapidly. The same type of cloud, which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has dubbed the "fire-breathing dragon of clouds," recently formed a fire tornado that tore through an eastern Utah neighborhood with wind speeds estimated at 122 miles per hour. "Think of the fire as kind of like a hot-air balloon, so it adds buoyancy and things rise as a result," said Derek Mallia, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah who studies pyrocumulus clouds and tracks fires in Utah and Arizona. "You get this towering thunderstorm over the fire, and just like any other thunderstorm it gets really windy underneath it. Because it's the West, these thunderstorms tend to be very dry." These clouds, he said, may appear more frequently as climate change causes a longer fire season, drought conditions and extreme weather events. A megafire - although not a formal scientific term - generally is a fire that has burned at least 156 square miles - or about half the size of New York City. The Dragon Bravo Fire surpassed that mark in the latest update Thursday. It was sparked by lightning on July 4 and was being managed by the park to benefit the landscape. About a week later, officials switched to suppressing it as conditions deteriorated, with hot, dry and windy weather pushing the flames toward the Grand Canyon Lodge and the historic cabins that surround it. The fire destroyed dozens of buildings and forced the closure of the North Rim for the rest of the season as hundreds of firefighters struggled to gain an upper hand. Thursday marked the eighth straight day of historically dry conditions, Jennings said. Humidity levels have been in the single digits, fuel moisture levels are extremely low and wind gusts were expected to crank up to 35 miles per hour. The pyrocumulus clouds have reached heights of at least 25,000 feet, and fire behavior analyst Arthur Gonzales said they could go higher. The direction of the wind has been fairly consistent for crews working the Dragon Bravo Fire. Although they have been strong, the predictability has allowed fire managers to more easily position crews on the fire lines. But when pyrocumulus clouds form and the winds become less predictable, Jennings said, firefighters often have to be pulled back to safety. Hot, dry winds fanned the flames of the Monroe Canyon Fire on Thursday as firefighters worked to contain its spread. The fire has burned 12 power poles, and many homes have been without electricity since Wednesday afternoon. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for extreme fire danger in much of central and southwest Utah this week. In Antimony, Utah, 54 miles south of Monroe, the town's 123 residents were without power Thursday afternoon. Mayor Kasey King, who was helping people gather food and supplies at a community center, said they could be without power for a week. The power company, Garkane Energy Cooperative, said it's working to restore electricity as quickly as possible and has brought in backup generators. Marnie Reynolds, a resident of Antimony, worried for the town's many elderly residents. She's been using a camp stove to offer hot meals to neighbors and is using a generator to help people refrigerate groceries and medications. "We have been facing a lot of challenges, but we have the best community," she said. In Richfield, Utah, 10 miles north of Monroe, Lee Stevens said his yard was coated in ash. He and his wife, who has asthma and is sensitive to the smoke, haven't yet been told to evacuate but are making preparations in case the fire spreads. The National Interagency Fire Center said Thursday that even with fewer square miles having burned so far this year than average, many parts of the country remain vulnerable to new starts and fast-moving flames.
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Air Quality Alert continues Friday amid Lollapalooza, festivals in Chicago
Poor air quality continues in Chicago as Lollapalooza and Fiesta del Sol enter their second day. Anyone heading there later should be aware that, as far as temperatures go, it will feel about the same as Thursday, but it will be hazy, and the air quality will be worse. It's all because of the Canadian wildfires. As of Friday, Chicago is in the top five for the worst air quality index of any major city in the world. The public is advised to take precautions, especially those sensitive to polluted conditions, by limiting their time outside and keeping windows and doors closed. The poor air quality comes during an eventful weekend, with Lollapalooza drawing tens of thousands of people to Grant Park and Fiesta del Sol bringing out even more people in Pilsen. The cooler temperatures are also keeping people out longer. For those attending those events or any other outdoor event around the city, Dr. Justin Fiala of Northwestern Medicine recommends adding a mask to your to-go kit. "What we would recommend to people ultimately is that if they're trying to limit the time they might be outdoors or if they're going to be outdoors for longer periods of time, consider things like N95 or KN95 masks, which are made to filter out 95 percent of these really small particles," he said. The Air Quality Alert will remain in effect until Friday night. Organizers at Lollapalooza said they have six medical tents inside the park to help if anyone needs medical assistance.
