Utah wildfire evacuees allowed to return to homes

About 2,300 Utah wildfire evacuees were allowed to return to their homes Saturday evening after officials determined the blaze no longer posed a threat to them.

By Lynn DeBruin, AP

fills the sky Friday above Saratoga Springs, Utah.

By Lynn DeBruin, AP

fills the sky Friday above Saratoga Springs, Utah.

The decision came after the fire had burned Friday within a quarter mile of some homes in Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Teresa Rigby said.

No homes have burned, she said, and fire officials were comfortable with the decision to lift the evacuation order after seeing how the 9-square-mile blaze behaved Saturday afternoon during high winds and high temperatures.

"The fire itself is still active but it no longer is a direct threat to homes," Rigby told The Associated Press. "Most of the fire is up on the mountain at this time and not near the subdivisions."

By Sam Noblett, Gannett

Flames roar down a Colorado mountainside Saturday.

The evacuation order, imposed Friday, affected nearly 600 homes and roughly 2,300 residents, according to an updated count released Saturday by fire officials.

Winds pushed some of the fire back on itself Saturday afternoon, Rigby said, and crews managed to put out "hot spots" closest to homes.

The fire that officials believe was started Thursday by target shooters was 30% contained Saturday evening, with full containment expected Tuesday.

Crews also were battling a 16,500-acre brush fire on high desert near the town of Delta in central Utah.

The human-caused fire was 60% contained Saturday evening, BLM spokesman Don Carpenter said, and had burned no homes after breaking out Friday.

While the fire was burning roughly eight miles from the communities of Lynndyl and Leamington, it posed no threat to them at this time, he said.

Elsewhere:

— A fast-growing blaze has spread to 75,537 acres in Colorado, making it the second-largest wildfire in the state's recorded history and threatening numerous homes north of Fort Collins.

High Park Fire Incident Commander Bill Hahnenberg said Saturday morning that the fire spread rapidly toward two subdivisions, Glacier View Meadows and Hewlett Gulch, on Friday as the fire jumped the Narrows section of Poudre Canyon in highly erratic weather conditions and moved northwest. Containment of the fire was reported at 45 percent Saturday morning.

Firefighters had to pull out of the neighborhood Friday when they encountered flames 200 feet high, he said.

"We saved two homes," he said. "And obviously we lost quite a few."

There were 25 fire engines, two 20-person fire crews and five heavy air tankers fighting the fire in the Glacier View Meadows area Saturday, but possible wind gusts of more than 30 mph could ground the aircraft, he said

— In Nevada, a wildfire that has scorched more than 11,000 acres of rugged terrain in northeast Nevada near the Utah line is 75% contained. It began as a U.S. Forest Service prescribed burn that escaped June 9.

— In New Mexico, a lightning-caused wildfire that destroyed 242 homes and businesses is 90% contained after crews got a break in the weather. Crews took advantage of heavy rain Friday to increase containment lines on the 69-square-mile fire near Ruidoso that began June 4. Meanwhile, the more than 464-square-mile Whitewater-Baldy blaze, the largest in state history, is 87% contained. It began May 16 as two lightning-caused blazes that merged to form one fire.

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Northeast bakes on 1st day of summer

Summer started with a bang Wednesday with a blistering, record-smashing heat wave in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where temperatures soared well into the 90s and hit 100 degrees in a few spots.

By Julio Cortez, AP

A plane preparing to land at Newark Liberty International Airport cruises by clouds covering the Wednesday sunrise in Newark.

By Julio Cortez, AP

A plane preparing to land at Newark Liberty International Airport cruises by clouds covering the Wednesday sunrise in Newark.

Record-high temperatures were broken Wednesday in locations such as New York City's LaGuardia Airport (98 degrees), Newark, N.J. (98), Hartford, Conn. (97), and Burlington, Vt. (95 degrees). Today and Friday should see more record-breaking heat before cooler air arrives in time for the weekend.

For the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, it was the season's first significant heat wave, which can be the most dangerous, said National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro. "Early season heat outbreaks can lead to a high number of heat-related health issues," he says, "as our bodies aren't used to it yet."

The high temperatures throughout the Northeast are expected to return Thursday, with readings in the mid- to high-90s.

Mail carrier Connie Vincent was already sweating as she began her rounds in Manchester, Conn., Wednesday morning.

"There's nothing you can do," she said as she dabbed her face with wet washcloths. "Tomorrow's my day off, thank God. I've just got to make it through today."

The weather service posted heat advisories and warnings in a continuous stretch from central Virginia to southern Maine, a distance of more than 600 miles.

Wednesday was the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the day with the longest period of daylight and the start of astronomical summer. Meteorological summer is defined as the months of June, July and August.

The heat produced some bizarre weather statistics: It was much warmer on Wednesday in Concord, N.H. (96 degrees) than it was in Miami (79 degrees).

Some spots in New Jersey neared 100 degrees. At an outdoor high school graduation in North Bergen, N.J., several relatives of graduates were treated for heat exhaustion and taken to a hospital.

The cause of the heat in the East, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Andy Mussoline, was a large high-pressure system that settled over the Mid-Atlantic, bringing in warm air from the South.

Heat can build up pretty quickly in the summer under these high-pressure systems, he said.

The worst of the heat in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic should end late Friday, he said, thanks to a cold front that's forecast to move into the region, bringing the chance for showers and thunderstorms.

"Much more comfortable weather will move into the region by the weekend," Mussoline said.

The typically torrid desert Southwest was seeing its own heat wave Wednesday, where highs were forecast to reach a scorching 115 degrees, hot even by the standards of that part of the nation.

More extreme heat is likely today and Friday in the Southwest. Excessive-heat warnings were posted in southeastern California and southwestern Arizona, where highs of 110 to 115 degrees were again possible through Friday.

While the Northeast will get a reprieve from the heat over the weekend and into early next week, the central and southeastern USA should see some searing heat by next week.

"Dallas could see its first 100-degree day of the year next week," Mussoline said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Northeast hits upper 90s for 2nd day

BOSTON (AP) – Temperatures in the Northeast soared into the upper 90s Thursday for a second day as residents fled to pools and beaches, tourists reorganized their sightseeing itineraries and street vendors and store owners made a small fortune selling bottled water and other cold drinks.

By Kathy Willens, AP

Construction worker Andrew Barbosa, right, splashes his face with water from an open hydrant in New York City on Thursday. Temperatures in the Northeast soared into the upper 90s.

By Kathy Willens, AP

Construction worker Andrew Barbosa, right, splashes his face with water from an open hydrant in New York City on Thursday. Temperatures in the Northeast soared into the upper 90s.

New York's Central Park was forecast to reach a record 98 degrees. Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., will see similar heat with temperatures inching into the upper 90s and low 100s. The official first day of summer Wednesday set records from New York City to Burlington, Vt.

In the nation's capital on Thursday, a bit of resourcefulness has helped at least some tourists hit all the hotspots despite the scorching heat.

Nolan Shoffner, 36, who was vacationing with his parents and 10-year-old son, Parker, said the family had rearranged some of their plans, like visiting the Lincoln and World War II memorials on Monday when it was cooler.

Since then, they've been doing outdoor activities like the White House and Capitol in the morning and saving cool, indoor museums for the afternoon.

"There's not a lot of places you can hide," Shoffner said of the heat as he stood outside the U.S. Capitol after taking a picture with his family.

In Boston, even as temperatures soared into the 90s, many took the heat in stride.

At the city's Franklin Park Zoo, gorillas sucked on ice treats and ostriches waded through spray mists in an effort to keep cool.

Spokeswoman Brooke Wardrop said the 100-year-old zoo routinely takes weather precautions with its animals.

Meanwhile, many flocked to area beaches to enjoy the stretch of heat. Dave Remillard, 50, went to Wollaston Beach in Quincy, just south of Boston. But instead of going in the water, he sat on a beach chair near his car and sunbathed.

"It's still a little cold to go swimming. The surf's still a little cold," he said, sipping a large cup of iced coffee. "I hope we have a hot summer. We haven't had one in a while."

In New Jersey, forecasters say temperatures could combine with humidity to make it feel like 110 degrees in parts of the state. Thermometers might not drop below 80 until the wee hours of Friday morning.

"American Idol" hopefuls in Newark got a bit of a break from the heat Thursday morning when they were ushered inside the Prudential Center to register to audition.

Providence, R.I., which is expected to have a heat index as high as 102 degrees, is operating cooling shelters and offering free public transit to discourage driving.

In preparation for the sweltering weather, golf course officials at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut have IVs ready to go at a medical tent where dozens were treated for heat exhaustion Wednesday.

Emergency medical services director John Quinlavin said people need to drink more water at the stations set up around the course. Forecasts for the area call for temperatures just short of 100 degrees.

"People are coming in dizzy, a little nausea, vomiting, generally poor feeling overall," he said. "We generally have a more mature audience here, and we do see a lot of the elderly having some problems with the heat."

With high heat and humidity forecast across the region, public health officials warned residents to not leave pets or children in vehicles as temperatures can quickly escalate and lead to heat stroke and death.

Two dogs left in a hot pickup truck in western Massachusetts died as a result of the heat Wednesday afternoon.

Erika Mueller, a co-owner of South Deerfield Emergency Veterinary Hospital, said the well-meaning dog owner left the animals in the truck with a window open and a supply of water, but the temperatures soared into the 90s, which can surpass 100 in a vehicle.

Bashir Saleh, a Times Square food vendor, glanced at a tiny thermometer Thursday morning and looked up with a wry grin: The temperature in his cart was pushing 100.

"I'm exhausted," said Saleh, a native of Afghanistan who'd been working already eight hours as the heat rose near his propane-gas fueled coffee maker.

But it's worth it to him, he said. He makes more money on the hottest days selling iced coffee and other drinks.

Sporting a visor with an American flag, Saleh, who'd fled war in his native land, said that even when he's sweating to earn a living, "I think, God bless America. For a few days, I can sacrifice."

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Colorado wildfires signal one of state's worst seasons ever

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – As merciless wildfires blaze throughout the West, exhausted firefighters are bracing for more.

By Ed Andrieski, AP

A forest burns Tuesday near Livermore, Colo.

By Ed Andrieski, AP

A forest burns Tuesday near Livermore, Colo.

Colorado is on the brink of one of its worst fire seasons in history, blamed on very high temperatures and a very low snowpack, which left mountains tinder-dry.

After 10 punishing days, the largest fire here, the High Park Fire near Fort Collins, was 55% contained Tuesday night, according to Brett Haberstick of the Interagency Wildfire Dispatch Center.

It has incinerated 189 homes; almost 2,000 are still threatened. It has burned 93 square miles; 1,911 firefighters are trying to halt the destruction. Cost so far: $17.2 million. The fire was set by lightning June 9.

Several other fast-growing fires have broken out in the state. Gov. John Hickenlooper has banned outdoor fires and all fireworks except municipal displays.

The danger of high winds will be lower for a few days, but winds could kick up by the weekend and fan flames in the interior West and the Rockies, said meteorologist Ed Delgado at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.

There's a possibility of thunderstorms in the Southwest and the Rockies on Sunday or Monday, he said. If there is lightning but little or no rain, that could ignite more fires.

Army National Guard police are running checkpoints to deter looters and sightseers. Michael Maher, 30, of Denver, was charged with impersonating a firefighter after police say he posted Facebook photos of himself in firefighting helicopters and with the governor at the High Park command post.

Other wildfires:

•In California, firefighters were able to contain 75% of a 1½-square-mile wildfire in mountainous eastern San Diego County despite gusty winds and low humidity.

•New Mexico's Little Bear Fire near Ruidoso has burned 62 square miles and 242 residential and commercial structures and 12 outbuildings. It was 60% contained.

•The Poco Fire near Young, Ariz., has burned 6 square miles and is a threat to electrical transmission lines that serve Phoenix and Tucson. It was 15% contained.

•The Russells Camp Fire has burned 4 square miles in the southwest corner of Converse County, Wyo., mostly in the Medicine Bow National Forest.

•In northwest Nebraska, a fire has charred an estimated 8 square miles in Sioux County.

•In Hawaii, Maui firefighters were monitoring the wind-driven Kula Fire that prompted an evacuation and damaged three homes.

Hughes also reports for the Fort Collins Coloradoan. Weise reported from San Francisco. Contributing: the Associated Press.

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Summer in America: Perdido Key, Fla.

Trent Barrilleaux sent up this photo of seagrass bed while kayaking Ono Island on Florida's Perdido Key.

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Summer in America: Louisville, Ky

Barry Sanford sent this photo of Floral Terrace, a Victorian section of Old Louisville that was developed about 100 years ago south of the downtown area. Barry notes that the houses face each other across a "walking court."

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Colo. wildfire tops 100 square miles

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The High Park Fire has hopscotched, scorched and charred through more than 100 square miles since it began June 9, destroying almost 200 homes.

By Ed Andrieski, AP

Fire burns trees on the High Park wildfire near Livermore, Colo., on Tuesday. The fire already has destroyed at least 189 homes since it was sparked by lightning June 9.

By Ed Andrieski, AP

Fire burns trees on the High Park wildfire near Livermore, Colo., on Tuesday. The fire already has destroyed at least 189 homes since it was sparked by lightning June 9.

For the first time, reporters were allowed access behind road closures so they could show the public what happened.

It isn't pretty.

The fire destroyed a blue single-story home across from the entrance to Picnic Rock State Park, leaving little but a foundation and a tangle of debris. But a few yards east, a white pickup truck sat untouched. Grasses and trees are blackened and burned in front of the house, but a large satellite dish to the west appeared unharmed.

Just north of the mouth of Poudre Canyon entrance, the fire destroyed another house despite firefighters' efforts to stop the blaze in that area.

"Unfortunately, the fire got ahead of us," said Poudre Fire Authority spokesman Capt. Patrick Love, who led the tour Wednesday. "It was not only difficult to see, but the fire was spreading quickly. We were outstripped."

A reporter and photographer flew over the burn area Tuesday afternoon and saw large unburned areas within the main fire perimeter, in some places looking like tiger stripes or leopard spots.

And on Wednesday's tour, Love pointed out how the south side of the Picnic Rock area was relatively unscathed and still covered with vegetation that Love said potentially could reignite.

"And then we're off to the races again," Love said, referring to the possibility of a new fire breaking out.

The tour included only two areas where residents had been allowed to return and did not encompass the hardest-hit areas where most of the 189 homes were destroyed and a woman was killed in her cabin before she could escape the flames.

"It's going to be years before this area returns to the way it was," said John Schulz, a spokesman for the Larimer County Sheriff, while standing on the grounds of the untouched Gateway Park Natural Area. "While it will be different, we hope we'll still be able to offer a good experience for our visitors and our residents. But it will be a different experience."

Wildlife also will be affected for years to come. Most birds and mammals, except those too young or too old to flee, have been able to travel to less intense areas, said Mark Vieira, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologist. They likely will return when new grasses sprout from the ashes.

But fish face big challenges: At first, fish are threatened with the heat of the fire itself. Next comes the slurry firefighters drop from the air to douse the blaze. Finally, following the blaze, ash and large amounts of sediment flow into streams.

Ash can clog a fish's gills, said Randy Hampton, a spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Stream health also affects the ability of insects, food for the fish, to breed.

Almost 2,000 firefighters are working to battle the blaze, which is considered 55 percent contained. Now officials want to keep unscathed sections within the burn area from igniting. Costs are approaching $20 million.

(Contributing: Bobby Magill and Madeline Novey, Fort Collins Coloradoan)

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Floods swamp Duluth, Minn.

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – Residents evacuated their homes and animals escaped from their pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck a city in northeastern Minnesota, officials said Wednesday.

By Clint Austin, AP

Flood waters rush past a home and into a street in Duluth, Minn., on Tuesday after heavy rains hit the area.

By Clint Austin, AP

Flood waters rush past a home and into a street in Duluth, Minn., on Tuesday after heavy rains hit the area.

Police officers helped track down a polar bear that got out of its enclosure overnight at the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth.

"Even though it's a large white object, it's pretty nerve racking," police spokesman Jim Hansen said of the chase for Berlin, the female polar bear. Zoo officials said she was darted by the zoo's vet and placed in quarantine.

Several sheep, goats and a donkey were killed by the flooding, said Susan Wolniakowski, director of guest services.

"Sadly the zoo experienced the loss of several animals, among them many of the barnyard residents," the zoo said in a statement.

Peter Pruett, the zoo's director of Animal Management, said the "entire staff is devastated."

Wolniakowski said no animals left the zoo grounds and all have been secured.

"I think it's probably been the worst flooding we've ever had at the zoo," Wolniakowski said. A train depot was completely underwater, she said.

Up to 8 inches of rain fell on the area overnight and the soaking continued Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Duluth, Interstate 35 and downtown tunnels were closed and police and the Carlton County Sheriff's Department recommended emergency travel only, warning that numerous sinkholes and washouts were making driving dangerous.

"It's a mess. There are too many intersections to even list that are closed," Hansen said.

Longtime residents say they haven't seen flooding of this magnitude since 1972.

Authorities asked residents of the Fond du Lac neighborhood in Duluth to leave their homes because of concerns about the rising level of the St. Louis River. Hansen said about a dozen homes were evacuated. Police have received about 100 calls for assistance since early Wednesday, he said.

The University of Minnesota Duluth campus closed Wednesday because of the floods.

Contributing: KARE-TV, Minneapolis

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Gulf on alert as Tropical Storm Debby's path 'uncertain'

A hard-to-predict tropical storm is threatening the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas. Even though the storm isn't far from shore, where it's going to land is more mysterious than usual.

NASA via AFP/Getty Images

Tropical Storm Debby nears the northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.

NASA via AFP/Getty Images

Tropical Storm Debby nears the northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.

The National Hurricane Center's two most accurate storm models are pointing in opposite directions about where Tropical Storm Debby is heading, center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen says.

"This is one of the most uncertain scenarios we've had in a long, long time," Feltgen says. "Our two most accurate models don't agree with each other."

The most accurate model predicts the storm will change its current northeastern course suddenly and head west. It would hit Louisiana on Thursday morning and cause heavy rains as far west as Houston.

The other model, only slightly less accurate in the past, predicts the tropical storm will stay on the same northerly path or slightly east. The storm would strike the Florida Panhandle Tuesday morning, and tropical storm conditions could occur almost as far away as Tampa.

As of 2 p.m. ET, the center of Debby was located about 200 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 105 miles southwest of Apalachicola, Fla., according to the hurricane center.

Its 60-mph winds were kicking up rough waves along Florida Panhandle beaches. If the first model is correct, the storm will take a sharp left turn Monday morning and head to Louisiana.

Feltgen says the models disagree about the effect of a high-altitude weather system on the tropical storm's path. The first model says this system will grab Tropical Storm Debby and drag it westward. The second model says it won't.

Both models agree the storm is unlikely to have hurricane-force winds when it hits land. But heavy rains and maximum winds above 50 mph are likely and flash flooding possible.

So far, the government reports that nine oil and gas production platforms and one drilling rig have been evacuated in the Gulf of Mexico. That has suspended 8% of the region's oil and gas production, not enough to affect prices nationally.

With Debby's formation in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, this marks the first time in recorded weather history that four named tropical storms have formed in the Atlantic before the end of June, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski.

Never before since record-keeping began in 1851 has the fourth tropical storm of any Atlantic hurricane season been detected before July, a feat Debby achieved this year with a week to spare, she adds.

Debby's slow motion will make rainfall the primary threat from the storm, with up to 10 inches likely in some regions along the coast from southeast Louisiana to Pensacola, Fla., reports meteorologist Jeff Masters of private weather forecasting company Weather Underground.

"Unfortunately, this part of the coast is not under drought and does not need the rain. Farther to the east, along the rest of the Gulf Coast of Florida, moderate to severe drought prevails, and flooding from Debby will be less of an issue."

The Pensacola area is at most risk, Feltgen says, because heavy rains caused flooding two weeks ago. "The ground is still saturated and its capacity to take more heavy rains is limited," he says.

If the storm heads west, Pensacola would get one to three inches of rain. If it doesn't change course, Tropical Storm Debby would drop five to 10 inches of rain on the Panhandle and as much as 15 inches in patches.

In Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish declared a state of emergency and started to sandbag levees. The National Hurricane Center said the tropical storm was not likely to hit New Orleans directly.

"We're always concerned about systems that aren't fully developed and could land anywhere," says Rupert Lacy, county emergency management director in Gulfport, Miss., in the middle of the two predictions.

His area got seven inches of rain two weeks ago. "Right now, people are ready to go and on a short leash, until we can have great confidence about where it will land."

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Summer in America: Clearwater, Fla.

Doug Nebel took this shot of people frolicking in the waves near Pier 60 at sunset on Clearwater Beach, Fla., as storm clouds rolled in.

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U.N. report warns environment is at tipping point

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The earth's environmental systems "are being pushed towards their biophysical limits," beyond which loom sudden, irreversible and potentially catastrophic changes, the United Nations Environment Program warned Wednesday.

By Felipe Dana, AP

Brazil's Secretary of Research and Development Programs and Politics, Ministry of Science and Technology, Carlos Nobre, speaks during the launch of U.N. Environment Program Global Environment Outlook 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday.

By Felipe Dana, AP

Brazil's Secretary of Research and Development Programs and Politics, Ministry of Science and Technology, Carlos Nobre, speaks during the launch of U.N. Environment Program Global Environment Outlook 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday.

In a 525-page report on the health of the planet, the agency paints a grim picture: The melting of the polar ice caps, desertification in Africa, deforestation of tropical jungles, spiraling use of chemicals and the emptying out of the world's seas are just some of myriad environmental catastrophes posing a threat to life as we know it.

"As human pressures on the earth … accelerate, several critical global, regional and local thresholds are close or have been exceeded," the report says. "Once these have been passed, abrupt and possibly irreversible changes to the life-support functions of the planet are likely to occur, with significant adverse implications for human well-being."

Such adverse implications include rising sea levels, increased frequency and severity of floods and droughts, and the collapse of fisheries, said the report, which compiles the work of the past three years by a team of 300 researchers.

The bad news doesn't end there. The report says about 20 percent of vertebrate species are under threat of extinction, coral reefs have declined by 38 percent since 1980, greenhouse gas emissions could double over the next 50 years, and 90 percent of water and fish samples from aquatic environments are contaminated by pesticides.

It adds that of the 90 most crucial environmental goals, little or no progress has been made over the past five years on nearly a third of them, including global warming. Significant progress has been made on just four of the objectives, the report says.

"This is an indictment," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said at a news conference in Rio De Janeiro, which is to host later this month a U.N. conference on development that protects the environment. "We live in an age of irresponsibility that is also testified and documented in this report.

"In 1992 (when the first of the agency's five reports was released) we talked about the future that was likely to occur. This report 20 years later speaks to the fact that a number of the things that we talked about in the future tense in 1992 have arrived," Steiner said. "Once the tipping point occurs, you don't wake up the next morning and say, 'This is terrible, can we change it?' That is the whole essence of these thresholds. We are condemning people to not having the choice anymore."

Steiner called for immediate action to prevent continued environmental degradation, with its ever-worsening consequences.

"Change is possible," he said, adding that the report includes an analysis of a host of environmental preservation projects that have worked. "Given what we know, we can move in another direction."

The United Nations' upcoming Rio+20 conference on sustainable development would be the ideal forum to spearhead the kind of global action that's needed if the worst is to be avoided, Steiner said.

However, the run-up to June 20-21 conference has been plagued with problems, as developing and developed countries continue to bicker over what the objectives of the event should be.

Speaking in New York on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that negotiations on a final document for the conference have been "quite difficult" but he said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the 193 U.N. member states will reach agreement.

"We live in a world of economic uncertainty, growing inequality and environmental decline," Ban told a news conference at U.N. headquarters. "This (conference) is a once in a generation opportunity. … We need leaders to have political commitment and political courage and vision. Short-term measures will not be the answers. You need to have mid- and longer-term visions for sustainable development."

UNEP spokesman Nick Nuttall said the agency deliberately scheduled the release of its report to coincide with the run-up to the conference.

"It tells, we hope in a polite way, but in a scientifically honest way, world leaders who are coming in a few weeks' time why they are coming and why they need to define an impressive outcome for everybody in the world," Nuttall said at the Rio news conference.

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Eyes turn skyward as Venus travels across the sun

OAKLAND – More than 1,000 astronomy enthusiasts thronged the Chabot Space and Science Center on Tuesday to see the Transit of Venus, a once-in-a-lifetime event that won't come again until 2117.

H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

Venus begins to pass in front of the sun, as visible from New York, on Tuesday.

H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

Venus begins to pass in front of the sun, as visible from New York, on Tuesday.

"It's really, really cool," said Emily Schweizer, 10. "It's a little dot crossing the sun, except that the dot happens to be Venus."

She got to skip school to witness the event, said her dad, David Schweizer, 49. "I couldn't imagine what they could be doing in school today that would be more educational."

The lines to look through Chabot's three large telescopes snaked through the plaza behind the observatory, a testament to the desire to experience events physically, not just see them on TV, said Alexander Zwissler, the center's executive director. "We've been telling people that there's a nice room downstairs where they could watch it all comfortably on-screen, but they want to be here, outside in the wind, eye to eyepiece."

Neurosurgeon Larry Dickinson was on trauma call at Eden Medical Center just down the road but walked over to be a part of it all.

"You see the bigger picture" when you look through the telescope at the heavens, he said. "You don't get so stressed out by living when you realize that we're just this little speck in space."

Chabot astronomer Conrad Jung had his telescope hooked to his camera, snapping shots of the transit as Venus moved across the disk of the sun.

"This is one of the rarest astronomical events for any person to see," he said. "No one alive today will see the next Transit of Venus."

For Kai Teigen, 7, of Berkeley, the whole thing was simple.

"I saw a little black spot in a big white circle," he said after taking his turn at a telescope. "It's Venus."

From the U.S. to South Korea, people around the world turned their attention to the daytime sky on Tuesday, and early Wednesday in Asia, to make sure they caught the rare sight. Many in the eastern part of the U.S., though, found cloudy skies in the way.

While astronomers used the latest technology to document the transit, American astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station was planning to take photos and post them online.

Terrestrial stargazers were warned to look at the celestial event only with a properly filtered telescope or cardboard eclipse glasses. Looking directly at the sun could cause permanent eye damage.

In Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory rolled out the red carpet for Venus. The last time the city witnessed a Venus transit was 130 years ago in 1882. A 2004 transit was not visible from the western U.S.

Telescopes with special filters were set up next to the lawn and people took turns peering at the sun.

Minutes before Venus first touched the outer edge of the sun, Sousa's Transit Of Venus March blared. The crowd turned skyward. For nearly 18 minutes, Venus appeared as a black spot.

Jamie Jetton took the day off from work to take her two nephews, 6 and 11, visiting from Arizona to the observatory. Sporting eclipse glasses, it took a little while before they spotted Venus.

"I'm still having fun. It's an experience. It's something we'll talk about for the rest of our lives," she said.

Venus, which is extremely hot, is one of Earth's two neighbors and is so close in size to our planet that scientists at times call them near-twins.

It was the seventh transit visible since German astronomer Johannes Kepler first predicted the phenomenon in the 17th century. Because of the shape and speed of Venus' orbit around the sun and its relationship to Earth's annual trip, transits occur in pairs separated by more than a century.

It's nowhere near as dramatic and awe-inspiring as a total solar eclipse, which sweeps a shadow across the Earth, but there will be six more of those this decade.

In Hawaii, astronomers planned viewings at Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor and Ko Olina. At Waikiki, officials planned to show webcasts as seen from telescopes from volcanoes Mauna Kea on the Big Island and Haleakala on Maui.

NASA had a watch party at its Goddard Visitor Center in Maryland with solar telescopes, images from its Solar Dynamics Observatory Mission and commentary.

Most people don't tend to gaze at the sun because it's painful and people instinctively look away, but there's a temptation to stare at it during sky shows like solar eclipses or transits of Venus.

The eye has a lens and if you stare at the sun, it concentrates sunlight on the retina and can burn a hole through it. It's similar to when you hold a magnifying glass under a blazing sun and light a piece of paper on fire.

It can take several hours for people to notice problems with their eyes but, by that time, the damage is done and can be irreversible.

During the 1970 solar eclipse visible from the eastern U.S., 145 burns of the retina were reported, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Experts from Hong Kong's Space Museum and local astronomical groups were organizing a viewing Wednesday outside the museum's building on the Kowloon waterfront overlooking the southern Chinese city's famed Victoria Harbor.

People in most areas of North and Central America would see the start of the transit until the sun set, while those in western Asia, the eastern half of Africa and most of Europe would catch the transit's end once the sun comes up.

Hawaii, Alaska, eastern Australia and eastern Asia, including Japan, North and South Korea and eastern China, would get the whole show because the entire transit will happen during daylight in those regions.

Contributing: Elizabeth Weise in Oakland

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USA's largest wildfire continues to scorch New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A rugged swath of forest in southwestern New Mexico pumped out more columns of smoke Tuesday as U.S. Forest Chief Tom Tidwell surveyed the burn scar being left behind by what has developed into the largest wildfire in the nation.

AP

Firefighters check piles being burnt from salvage logging along the edge of the Gila National Forest blaze in New Mexico.

AP

Firefighters check piles being burnt from salvage logging along the edge of the Gila National Forest blaze in New Mexico.

Tidwell took an early morning aerial tour of the blaze, which has scorched more than 400 square miles since being sparked by lightning about three weeks ago. The fire became the largest in New Mexico's recorded history after making daily runs across tens of thousands of acres as winds whipped fiercely.

Tidwell said his flight over the fire brought home its size and the ruggedness of the Gila wilderness.

"I know there are a lot of times people question why we're not able to get in there and put out these fires right away," he said. "If folks could actually see how rugged the terrain is, how steep these canyons are, how much fuel is there, the size of the timber and how inaccessible it is, I think they would quickly understand."

Tidwell and other federal officials earlier this spring had predicted this would be a busy fire season as drought sweeps across a broader section of the West, leaving overgrown forests even more susceptible than last year.

"We get a start at the right time and we get the right weather conditions, we're going to have some large fires," he said during a news conference Tuesday in Albuquerque. "What we need to focus on is making sure our communities understand that."

A lack of moisture combined with already dry fuels and warm temperatures are making for challenging conditions across the southern half of the United States. And Tidwell said the central part of the West — from Colorado to California and up through southern Oregon — can expect fire danger to increase.

"We're probably going to have to deal with this down here for another four to six weeks at least before hopefully we'll get some summer rains," Tidwell said.

More than 1,100 firefighters have been assigned to the 259,000-acre Whitewater-Baldy fire. There have been only a handful of minor injuries, but firefighting efforts elsewhere have turned deadly.

Over the weekend, two pilots were killed when their air tanker crashed while fighting a fire in southern Utah.

Tidwell said the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

"Our hearts go out to these pilots. They're as much a part of the firefighter community as anybody else is. It's just tragic when we lose them," he said.

In New Mexico, firefighters were building lines and conducting more burnout operations to keep the Whitewater-Baldy fire from making any aggressive runs along its boundaries. That way, crews could control the severity of the burn, said fire information officer Gerry Perry.

"We still have active fire within the perimeter, but they're a little more comfortable that they've got a handle on it," he said. "That doesn't mean the fire is over, but things are looking better."

Crews in the northern part of the state also were working Tuesday to contain a lightning-sparked blaze in the Santa Fe National Forest. The smoke could be seen dozens of miles away in Rio Rancho, N.M.

Forest officials said that fire started Sunday night and had burned about 190 acres southeast of Jemez Springs. No structures were being threatened, and no evacuations were planned.

With fires burning around the West and more expected as the season ramps up, Tidwell said he was confident the agency has the resources — both financial and in terms of equipment and crew — to respond. The Forest Service budgets $70 million a year for firefighting aircraft out of $2 billion overall fighting wildfires.

So far, fire information officers say the Whitewater-Baldy fire has cost an estimated $15.4 million to fight.

Congress has appropriated enough for what Tidwell calls a "moderate" season. Since it's expected to get busy, he said funds can be transferred from other accounts to cover costs.

"We've practiced good, sound financial management with fires, just like we do with every other part of our agency, but that doesn't factor into the decisions we're making," Tidwell said. "The decisions are based on what needs to occur, what's the right way to do this, what's the safe way to do this, and that's what determines what strategy we apply to these fires."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Solar-powered plane makes 19-hour flight

What's billed as the first intercontinental flight for a solar-powered aircraft landed late Tuesday night in Rabat, Morocco after a 19-hour journey from Madrid, Spain.

"The flight over the Gibraltar straight was a magical moment," pilot and adventurer Bertrand Piccard, who has already circumnavigated the world by balloon, said upon arrival at the Rabat airport. He told reporters that his Solar Impulse craft came to Morocco "out of admiration for Morocco's pioneering solar energy program," according to the Associated Press.

FOLLOW:  Green House on Twitter

The single-seat aircraft has 12,000 solar cells spread across a wingspan similar to that of a large commercial jet airliner. Organizers say it weighs, however, about as much as an average family car.

Solar Impulse made the first leg of its journey, from Switzerland to Madrid, in late May but since it can only fly in ideal weather, it had to wait for the right conditions to continue on toward Morocco. It climbed up to 27,000 feet and reached top speeds of more than 75 miles per hour.

Piccard said the plane isn't meant to replace conventional airplanes but rather to show what solar energy can accomplish. "All of the technology on this plane can be used in daily life," he said, reports AP.

His project, begun in 2003, aims for a round-the-world flight with a new, upgraded plane in 2014. Estimated to have cost about $100 million, it has received funding from major corporations, including Deutsche Bank, Bayer and Schindler.

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West Coast prepares for Japanese tsunami debris

SALEM, Ore. – A large dock that washed ashore in Oregon this week more than a year after it was ripped from Japan's shoreline by a tsunami is adding urgency to preparations for a wave of such debris expected to hit the USA's Pacific Coast in coming months.

By Rick Bowmer, AP

A woman looks at the massive dock that washed ashore on Agate Beach on Wednesday in Newport, Ore. The dock was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean.

By Rick Bowmer, AP

A woman looks at the massive dock that washed ashore on Agate Beach on Wednesday in Newport, Ore. The dock was torn loose from a fishing port in northern Japan by last year's tsunami and drifted across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean.

"We've got a looming threat. There's great public concern about this," says Phillip Johnson, Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition director. "At this point, we don't know if we're going to have a major problem."

Beach cleanliness is vital to residents in Oregon, the only state whose entire coastline (362 miles) is public. Thousands of people turn out twice a year for beach cleanup events. Others adopt portions of the coastline, cleaning and monitoring it year-round. So it's no surprise that residents are worried about the tsunami debris, Johnson says.

On Wednesday, Oregon confirmed the dock that washed ashore this week was from the tsunami. The dock — 7 feet high, 19 feet wide and 66 feet long — is the first official piece of tsunami debris to reach the state.

A dozen volunteers on Thursday scraped the dock clean of marine organisms and sterilized it with torches to prevent the spread of invasive species, said Chris Havel of the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

Japanese officials estimate that 5 million tons of debris washed into the Pacific Ocean after the March 11, 2011, quake and tsunami, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). About 70% of that sank, leaving about 1.5 million tons floating.

Most of the debris still is north of Hawaii, says Nir Barnea, West Coast regional coordinator for NOAA's Marine Debris Program.

Scientists expect more debris to hit the West Coast in coming months and through 2014. "It will arrive intermittently and not all at one time and place," Barnea says. "It may be difficult to tell what is tsunami-related and what is not. Even floats with Japanese writing are not necessarily from the tsunami."

Although scientists expect much of the floating debris to follow the currents to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of millions of tons of small bits of plastic floating in the northern Pacific, tsunami debris that can catch the wind is making its way to North America. In recent weeks, a soccer ball washed up in Alaska and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in a shipping container reached British Columbia.

Just how the dock happened to turn up in Oregon was probably determined within sight of land in Japan, says Jan Hafner with the University of Hawaii's International Pacific Research Center, which tracks the debris.

That's where the winds, currents and tides are most variable, because of changes in the coastline and the features of the land, even for two objects a few yards apart, he says. Once the dock got into the ocean, it was pushed steadily by the prevailing westerly winds and the North Pacific Current.

In April, a group of volunteer organizations teamed with NOAA and the state to hold 11 public meetings across Oregon to address concerns about tsunami debris. About 400 people attended, says Jamie Doyle, an educator with Oregon Sea Grant.

"A lot of people were concerned about radiation," Doyle says, referring to the nuclear power plant accident in Japan that was triggered by the earthquake and tsunami. "But it's thought to be highly unlikely."

That's because most of the debris was washed out before the radiation release and because radiation would have dissipated by now, Barnea says.

Body parts also are not expected, because they would have decomposed by now.

The most important message, Barnea says: "If you don't know what it is, don't touch it. Don't move it. Report it to local authorities, 911 or the national response center."

A mobile application at marinedebris.engr.uga.edu can help people report debris. It is a partnership of the NOAA Marine Debris Division and the Southeast Atlantic Marine Debris Initiative of the engineering school at the University of Georgia.

In addition to Oregon, other Pacific Coast states are educating residents about tsunami debris cleanup, Barnea says.

•In Alaska, some lighter debris, such as plastic bottles and Styrofoam floats, is showing up. The first volunteer cleanup project in the state took place in Montague Island this month.

•In Washington, authorities have distributed fliers with instructions on how to handle items found on beaches.

•In California, officials say coastal currents may deflect most debris back toward Hawaii. Even so, the state's Coastal Commission has issued guidelines for volunteers helping with tsunami debris removal.

"We'll continue to work on the planning, continue to work with volunteers," Barnea says. "It's a real teamwork of state, federal and local agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the public."

Loew also reports for the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. Contributing: John McAuliff, USA TODAY; the Associated Press.

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Tornado leaves 3 dead in Missouri

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A man and his two adult sons died when a tornado obliterated a mobile home in southeast Missouri, officials said Tuesday.

By Adam Vogler, AP

A donkey wanders through debris in the back yard of Loy Miller's home after a tornado passed through the area in Diehlstadt, Mo. on Tuesday. The storm struck late Monday, killing three men, including Miller.

By Adam Vogler, AP

A donkey wanders through debris in the back yard of Loy Miller's home after a tornado passed through the area in Diehlstadt, Mo. on Tuesday. The storm struck late Monday, killing three men, including Miller.

The twister was part of a storm that struck Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky late Monday, but hit hardest in the tiny village of Diehlstadt, in Scott County, where the three men were killed.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said the mobile home was smashed beyond recognition.

"The frame was probably 100 yards away from where it was sitting," Walter said. "It was just debris everywhere. It just obliterated it."

Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Clark Parrott identified the deceased as 70-year-old Loy Miller, the owner of the trailer, and his sons, Jasper Miller, 50, and Randy Miller, 48. Parrott said it wasn't clear if the sons also lived in the mobile home.

"We had a pretty intense, concentrated storm," Parrott said.

An 11-year-old St. Louis County girl suffered minor head and arm injuries after being pelted by huge chunks of hail.

The gusty storm developed in the St. Louis area Monday afternoon, producing nearly an inch of rain and pingpong-sized hail in some places while leaving others bone dry, National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Sanders said. Hail, about an inch of rain and winds stronger than 50 mph were also reported in parts of southern Illinois and northwestern Kentucky.

The storm became particularly intense in southeast Missouri, and Diehlstadt, a village of 163 residents about 100 miles south of St. Louis, took the worst of it. The weather service said 52 homes and several businesses in the Diehlstadt area had damage, mostly to roofs. A church lost its steeple, and dozens of trees were uprooted or snapped.

Downed power lines closed Highway 77 for several hours, Parrott said. Power was restored before dawn.

The weather service determined the EF-2 tornado was 75 yards wide and had peak winds of 115 mph. Witnesses told Walter they saw a tornado dip down and strike the trailer, then bounce back up and dip down again elsewhere.

The storm was very much hit-and-miss. In the St. Louis area, Chesterfield on the east side of the Missouri River saw a downpour of sideways-blowing rain and hail around 4:30 p.m.; Weldon Spring, on the other side of the river, was virtually dry.

Monday's storm was so spotty that it did virtually nothing to relieve moderate to severe drought conditions in the area.

"We need a couple of inches of rain, big-time," Sanders said. "Heading into May we were above normal rainfall, but May just really killed it."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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USA had warmest March-May on record

The surreal heat that enveloped much of the USA this spring turned out to be the warmest ever recorded in U.S. history — by an eye-opening margin, scientists report.

Robert K. O'Daniell, AP

University of Illinois freshmen Jill Marik, left, and Jeremy Vivit enjoy unseasonably warm weather on March 13 on the campus Quad in Urbana, Ill.

Robert K. O'Daniell, AP

University of Illinois freshmen Jill Marik, left, and Jeremy Vivit enjoy unseasonably warm weather on March 13 on the campus Quad in Urbana, Ill.

Coming on the heels of the fourth-warmest winter on record in the USA, nature and the economy were thrown off rhythm, as jobs, retail sales, crops and bugs sprouted outside their normal cycles.

Though the calendar says we're still in spring, climatologists define spring as the months of March, April and May; weather records go back to 1895.

"Record and near-record warmth dominated the eastern two-thirds of the nation during spring," according to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) report. "Thirty-one states were record warm for the season. Only Oregon and Washington had spring temperatures near normal."

The spring season's nationally averaged temperature was 57.1 degrees, 5.2 degrees above the long-term average, and surpassing the previous warmest spring (1910) by 2 degrees.

The amount by which the spring broke the record was also phenomenal: Spring 2012 marked the largest temperature departure from average of any season on record in the USA, the center reported.

In addition, the center also announced that the USA is seeing its warmest start to the year since records began.

The warmth wreaked havoc on plants and insects across the country, leading to an unusually early blooming of the cherry trees in Washington, D.C. Apple and peach trees bloomed two months early in the Midwest.

Just Wednesday, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book report on the economy said the warm spring had boosted tourism, bolstering everything from Florida visits by foreigners to ticket sales on Broadway.

Restaurant sales rose by double digits in January and February, months when cold weather keeps many consumers home, helping calm fears that gas prices would slash discretionary spending. Sales of vehicles and parts rose 7.3% in the first quarter, accounting for more than a fourth of the economy's growth, according to the government.

Analysts think car buyers came out earlier than usual this year because dealer lots weren't freezing, said Chris Christopher, an economist at consulting firm IHS Global Insight. And The Home Depot's shares are up 20% this year, largely because of strong winter sales, though momentum at rival Lowe's has cooled since March.

Economists at Moody's Analytics think the warm weather added about 50,000 jobs a month during January and February, Moody's associate economist Sara Kline said. But then the weather has hurt employment growth in recent months given some car, new-house and home-improvement sales happened sooner than expected, both said.

"Workers were brought back more quickly than usual in construction, in trucking and leisure and hospitality than they would be in a normal winter," Kline said. "The flip side is not getting as much growth as expected in March and April."

Too much hot, dry weather can be bad news for agriculture, but it's hard to say how bad the impact this year will be. The Texas economy lost more than $7.6 billion due to last year's heat and drought, said Mark Waller, an agricultural economist at the Texas AgriLife Extension at Texas A&M University.

"It's not as bad as it was last year," because the Texas winter wasn't as dry, he said. "We haven't been hot enough yet this year to damage crops, and we probably got some early hay cutting because it warmed up early."

How warm has it been? Chicago saw eight days in the 80s in March and five days in the 90s in May, the National Weather Service reported, smashing records in a city known for cold, windy weather.

The cause of the strange heat was an ongoing pattern that kept the jet stream much farther to the north than usual, according to NCDC climatologist Jake Crouch. This allowed warm air to spread across most of the country east of the Rockies, he said.

The heat is expected to continue: In its summer forecast released in May, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said that about three-fourths of the nation — from the Southwest to the Mid-Atlantic — should see above-average temperatures from June-August.

Additionally, the CPC announced Thursday that there is a 50% chance that El Niño conditions will develop during the second half of the year. El Niño is a periodic warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that primarily affects winter weather in the USA.

A typical El Niño tends to bring warmer-than-average winter temperatures to much of the northern USA and cooler-than-average temperatures to the nation's southern tier, the CPC reports.

Worldwide data for spring will be released June 14. Through April, the globe was not experiencing the level of unusual warmth that the USA was: The worldwide temperature for January-April was only the 15th warmest on record, the climate center reported in May.

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Powerful storms damage homes in Colo., Wyo.

DENVER (AP) – A quarter-mile-wide tornado cut a swath across mainly open country in southeastern Wyoming, damaging homes, derailing empty train cars and leaving one person with minor injuries, officials said.

By Christian Murdock, AP

Traffic signal technician Dale Skattum replaces the light at the intersection of Santa Rosa Street and Chelton Road in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, after storms pummeled Colorado and Wyoming.

By Christian Murdock, AP

Traffic signal technician Dale Skattum replaces the light at the intersection of Santa Rosa Street and Chelton Road in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, after storms pummeled Colorado and Wyoming.

The twister was part of a powerful storm system that rolled through parts of Colorado and Wyoming Thursday afternoon and evening, packing heavy rains, high winds and hail. The storms followed a round of nasty late spring weather that pummeled the region Wednesday.

Thursday's tornado in a sparsely populated area near Wheatland, Wyo., left five structures heavily damaged, and 10 to 12 other structures had lesser damage, said Kelly Ruiz of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security. One of the destroyed homes was vacant, said local radio station owner Kent Smith, speaking for the Platte County Sheriff's Office.

One person was treated at a hospital for a cut on the head, Smith said.

National Weather Service meteorologist Richard Emanuel said the tornado stayed on the ground for much of its 20-mile path from west of Wheatland to northeast of Chugwater. The area is about 60 miles north of Cheyenne.

"It stayed pretty much over open country," Emanuel said. "It didn't hit any towns or cities."

A twister of that size and duration on the ground was unusual for Wyoming, he said.

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad crew reported the tornado struck a stopped train near Wheatland, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said. Five empty train cars derailed onto their sides.

Some power lines also were downed, Ruiz said.

Hail the size of golf balls was reported in the Wheatland area, and 2-inch hail was reported in Laramie, National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Trudel said.

In Colorado, a tornado was spotted near Calhan in El Paso County on Thursday night. And meteorologists were trying to confirm a report of a tornado to the north in Elbert County near Simla.

Elbert County officials reported damage to eight houses, including two that were missing roofs and others with broken windows. They also received a report of one minor injury, county emergency management spokeswoman Kara Gerczynski said. Meanwhile 2.5-inch hail was reported in El Paso County near Peterson Air Force Base.

Bernie Meier, a National Weather Service meteorologist stationed in Boulder, said a storm that crossed into the state from Wyoming hit the Greeley area with golf ball sized hail. Though he had no immediate reports of damage, he said it was likely given the size of the hail.

The storms were winding down late Thursday and forecasters said drier weather was expected Friday.

Thursday's storms came as Colorado businesses including a grocery store were cleaning up the mess left after a storm system brought about five tornadoes, hail up to 8 inches deep and heavy rain Wednesday night. No serious damage was reported from the tornadoes Wednesday, but snowplows were called out in Douglas County to clear hail, and firefighters in Colorado Springs rescued about 40 people from flooded cars and homes.

Insurers reported receiving several hundred home and automobile claims in Colorado before the new wave of storms arrived Thursday evening.

The rain provided some help to firefighters who fully contained a 227-acre wildfire in northern Colorado, but the weather initially hurt efforts to control a 6,000-acre blaze in Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest.

Storms passed close to the Wyoming fire but mostly brought gusty winds that fanned the flames. Rain and hail fell later but didn't make a significant difference, said fire spokeswoman Beth Hermanson.

Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Denver, said the beginning of June is the peak time for such severe weather in Colorado. Most of the state has been experiencing moderate-to-extreme drought conditions.

"It's game-on for this type of thing," he said.

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Experts: Oklahoma, not Texas, had hottest summer ever

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma and Texas have argued for years about which has the best college football team, whose oil fields produce better crude, even where the state border should run. But in a hot, sticky dispute that no one wants to win, Oklahoma just reclaimed its crown.

By Sue Ogrocki, AP

Liz Moody and Stephanie Russell try to keep cool as they watch a softball game in Oklahoma City in July 2011. After recalculating data from 2011, climatologists report that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S.

By Sue Ogrocki, AP

Liz Moody and Stephanie Russell try to keep cool as they watch a softball game in Oklahoma City in July 2011. After recalculating data from 2011, climatologists report that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S.

After recalculating data from last year, the nation's climatologists are declaring that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S. last year - not Texas as initially announced last fall.

"It doesn't make me feel any better," joked Texas rancher Debbie Davis, who lives northwest of San Antonio.

In the new tally by the National Climatic Data Center, Oklahoma's average temperature last summer was 86.9 degrees, while Texas finished with 86.7 degrees. The previous record for the hottest summer was 85.2 degrees set in 1934 -- in Oklahoma.

"I'm from Oklahoma, and when you talk about the summer of 1934, there are a lot of connotations that go with that," said Deke Arndt, chief of the NCDC's climate monitoring branch in Asheville, N.C. "That whole climate episode - the Dust Bowl - that is a point in our state's history that we still look back to as transformative."

Yet the summer of 2011, "was warmer than all those summers that they experienced during the Dust Bowl," Arndt said.

Surprisingly, average summer temperatures are usually higher in states in the Southeast and southern Plains than in states in the Desert Southwest. For example, there are no "cool" spots in Oklahoma during a typical summer, while cooler parts of northern Arizona bring that state's overall average summer temperature down.

Also, the Desert Southwest's generally higher elevations and drier air lend themselves to lower overnight temperatures, which pulls the daily average down, Arndt said.

The record swap became apparent after extra data trickled in from weather stations and meteorological field reports across both states. That data also pushed up Oklahoma's mark as the hottest month ever by two-tenths of a degree, to 89.3 degrees in July 2011.

Oklahoma had experienced unusually dry, hot weather in the winter and spring, then summer brought regular triple-digit temperatures that fueled wildfires, prompted burn bans and led to water rationing in some communities.

"We didn't just barely surpass the previous summer record, we smashed it," said Gary McManus, Oklahoma's associate state climatologist. "That last summer was so far above and beyond what we consider normal, I don't think there will be another, compared to what we had."

Through the years, Texans and Oklahomans have fought over just about everything, from water rights to barbecue joints. Huge crowds attend the annual meeting of the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma football teams in Dallas.

It even took the states until 1999 to settle a boundary dispute that landed before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1894 -- before Oklahoma's statehood.

But residents on both sides of that now undisputed Texas-Oklahoma border want no part in the summer fight.

For Oklahoma rancher Monte Tucker, last summer was a breaking point, and it didn't make him feel any better Friday when he learned about his state's new dubious honor.

Last summer felt like "opening an oven after cooking bread," said Tucker, who ranches in Sweetwater, in western Oklahoma. "We basically got up right about sun-up and did all we could until 11 in the morning, and we basically shut down almost `till dark and kind of started up again.

"I don't want to do it again, I'll say that much," he said.

Last summer also took a toll on plants and trees, many of which were weakened by the intense heat.

"We had to stop planting last summer because it was silly to plant in 100-degree temperatures," said Stephen Smith, who works at Southwood Garden Center and Nursery in Tulsa.

"I've been in this business 30 years," he added. "And it was probably one of the worst temperatures I can remember."

Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

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Hurricane storm surge imperils 4 million homes

A survey of the USA's vulnerability to hurricane-driven storm-surge damage found that more than four million homes worth over $700 billion are at risk along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

Storm surge — the massive mound of water that builds up and comes ashore as a hurricane moves over the ocean or Gulf of Mexico— is typically the most dangerous aspect of hurricanes.

The report, released this morning by research and consulting firm CoreLogic of Santa Ana, Calif., found that Florida is the state most prone to storm-surge damage, with about 1.4 million homes at risk, worth a total value of $188 billion.

Louisiana ranks second in total number properties at risk with nearly 500,000, while New York is second in total value of coastal properties possibly exposed at $111 billion.

At the city level, the New York City metro area contains both the highest number of vulnerable properties and the highest exposure in total property value at risk .

"The summer of 2011 gave us some startling insight into the damage that even a weak storm can cause in the New York City metro area," said Howard Botts of CoreLogic. "Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm as it passed through New Jersey and New York City, but the impact of the storm was still estimated at as much as $6 billion."

The Atlantic hurricane season began last week and lasts until Nov. 30.

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Wyo. tornado injures at least one

A tornado touched down this afternoon in southeastern Wyoming, causing at least one injury, according to news reports.

Update at 7:35 p.m. ET: One person was treated at Platte County Memorial Hospital in Wheatland for an unspecified minor injury, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle says.

The twister lasted on and off for about an hour before dissipating northeast of Chugwater, a meteorologist told the Cheyenne paper.

Golf-ball-size hail was reported around Wheatland, with 2-inch hail in Laramie, the National Weather Service says.

Several tornado touchdowns from a separate storm were reported north of Cheyenne.

Original post: A tornado touched down in southeastern Wyoming this afternoon, causing at least one injury, according to news reports from the Equality State.

The quarter-mile-wide twister hit east of Wheatland about 3:15 p.m. MT (5:15 p.m. ET) and moved southeast across I-25, a National Weather Service meteorologist told the Casper Star-Tribune. The town of 3,500, in Platte County, is 70 miles north of Cheyenne.

The Platte County emergency coordinator told the Star-Tribune there were multiple injuries. A Wheatland Police dispatcher told K2-TV that one injury was confirmed and that police were checking homes for other injuries.

Structural damage was reported, but the location and extent were not yet clear, K2 says.

A storm chaser tweeted this photo of the funnel cloud.

Violent weather was moving across the Plains region. In Colorado, Denver and 12 other counties are under a tornado warning until 8 p.m. MT (10 p.m. ET), the Denver Post says.

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Spring in America: Ogunquit, Maine

John Angelone sent us this shot of the view off Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine.

We will be posting the last of our spring photos over the next couple of weeks and are gearing up for summer photos.

So break out the cameras and send us a shot of summer in your area as the season gets underway. We'll select the best to appear in On Deadline.

A few guidelines:

1. Please submit only one photo.

2. It must be from this summer, and it must be your original work on which you control all the rights.

3. As much as we like cute kids and dogs, please keep the focus on landscape and scenery (to avoid the need for model release forms and other clutter!)

4. Include a sentence or two of description about where the photo was taken.

5. Don't forget to send us your name, so we can give you a photo credit. Include your e-mail address and/or phone number (which we will NOT publish) in case we have any questions.

6. Send the photo with a brief caption in your own words to OnDeadline@usatoday.com

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Is China poor? Key question at climate talks

Alexander F. Yuan, AP

FILE- Smoke billows from a chimney of a heating plant as the sun sets in Beijing in this file photo dated Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. U.N. climate talks being held in Bonn, Germany, are in gridlock Thursday May 24, 2012, as a rift between rich and poor countries risked undoing some of the advances made last year in the two-decade-long effort to control carbon emissions from fast-growing economies like China and India as well as developed industrialized nations that scientists say are overheating the planet.(AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, File)

Alexander F. Yuan, AP

FILE- Smoke billows from a chimney of a heating plant as the sun sets in Beijing in this file photo dated Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. U.N. climate talks being held in Bonn, Germany, are in gridlock Thursday May 24, 2012, as a rift between rich and poor countries risked undoing some of the advances made last year in the two-decade-long effort to control carbon emissions from fast-growing economies like China and India as well as developed industrialized nations that scientists say are overheating the planet.(AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, File)

BONN, Germany (AP) — Another round of U.N. climate talks closed Friday without resolving how to share the burden of curbing man-made global warming, mainly because countries don't agree on who is rich and who is poor.

China wants to maintain a decades-old division between developed and developing countries, bearing in mind that, historically, the West has released most of the heat-trapping gases that scientists say could cause catastrophic changes in climate.

But the U.S. and Europe insisted during the two-week talks in Bonn that the system doesn't reflect current economic realities and must change as work begins on a new global climate pact set to be completed in 2015.

"The notion that a simple binary system is going to be applicable going forward is no longer one that has much relevance to the way the world currently works," U.S. chief negotiator Jonathan Pershing said.

Countries like Qatar and Singapore are wealthier than the U.S. per capita but are still defined as developing countries under the classification used in the U.N. talks. So is China, the world's second largest economy.

Finding a new system that better reflects the world today, while also acknowledging the historical blame for greenhouse gas emissions, is the biggest challenge facing the U.N. process as it seeks a global response to climate change.

"That is a fundamental issue," said Henrik Harboe, Norway's chief climate negotiator. "Some want to keep the old division while we want to look at it in a more dynamic way."

The U.N. climate talks are based on the premise that industrialized countries must take the lead on climate change by committing to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. They are also expected to provide money to help poor countries grow in a sustainable way and to protect the most vulnerable nations from rising sea levels, droughts and other consequences of a warming world

Disputes on how to categorize countries going forward was behind much of the procedural wrangling that slowed down the talks in Bonn. Delegates failed to agree on an agenda until the last day, leaving most of the work for a bigger summit in Qatar in November.

A separate dispute between developing countries delayed the appointment of officials to steer the talks. That stalemate was also unlocked on the last day.

The slow pace frustrated climate activists who fear that there won't be enough political will to rein in emissions to avoid dangerous levels of warming in coming decades.

"The talk here doesn't match the action that science says is required," said Mohamed Adow, senior climate change adviser at Christian Aid.

China's lead negotiator Su Wei told The Associated Press that the proposed new deal, which would have binding commitments for all countries after 2020, must be based on the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" enshrined in previous climate agreements.

"That means we still would continue the current division between developed and developing countries," Su said.

He said China is still a developing country because if you look at wealth per capita, it barely makes the world's top 100. More than 100 million Chinese live below the poverty line, which Beijing has defined as about $1 a day.

Still, Western officials say China's fast-growing energy needs and rising emissions mean it can no longer be off the hook in climate negotiations.

"We need to move into a system which is reflecting modern economic realities," EU negotiator Christian Pilgaard Zinglersen said.

In the early 1950s, China accounted for just 2 percent of global emissions while the U.S. accounted for more than 40 percent, according to Climate Analytics, a climate research group based in Potsdam, Germany.

Today China's share of global emissions exceeds 25 percent, while the U.S. share has fallen toward 20 percent.

China and its supporters reject blame for stalling the climate talks, saying it is the U.S. and other developed nations that are unwilling to live up to their obligations to cut carbon emissions.

The U.S. refused to join the only binding accord to limit emissions — the 1997 Kyoto Protocol— partly because it didn't include China.

Seyni Nafo, spokesman for a group of African countries in the climate talks, noted that the U.S. also said that joining Kyoto would harm the U.S. economy. Years later, the U.N. climate effort still has little support in the U.S. Congress, which includes outspoken climate skeptics.

"We are hoping that they will get on board this time, which is not a given," Nafo said.

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Federal forecasters predict a near-normal hurricane season

The federal government is predicting a near-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic this year: anywhere from four to eight hurricanes.

NOAA

Hurricane Irene, the most devastating storm of 2011, spins off the Mid-Atlantic coast in August.

NOAA

Hurricane Irene, the most devastating storm of 2011, spins off the Mid-Atlantic coast in August.

A typical season, based on the years 1981-2010, sees six hurricanes.

The Atlantic season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. This forecast, out Thursday from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), covers any storms that form in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Overall, NOAA predicts that nine to 15 named tropical storms are likely. Tropical storms have top wind speeds of 39 mph or higher. Once a storm's winds reach 74 mph, it becomes a hurricane.

According to NOAA, two current climate factors will limit hurricane development, if they persist:

The first is stronger-than-average wind shear over the Atlantic, which, if it persists, can tear apart burgeoning hurricanes before they start, says forecaster Todd Kimberlain of the National Hurricane Center.

Wind shear is when winds are roaring from different directions in different layers of the atmosphere. Winds recently have come from the east at low levels, Kimberlain says, while they've been from the west at upper levels, about 40,000 feet above the surface.

The second factor is cooler-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Warm water, usually of 80 degrees or above, helps fuel hurricanes.

"Another potentially competing climate factor would be El Niño, if it develops by late summer to early fall," says Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

El Niño is a warming of tropical Pacific ocean water. The opposite pattern, La Niña, has been diminishing in recent months.

"In that case, conditions could be less conducive for hurricane formation and intensification during the peak months (August-October) of the season, possibly shifting the activity toward the lower end of the predicted range," he says.

This month, two of the biggest private weather forecasting companies, AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, predicted an average or slightly below-average hurricane season. AccuWeather said 12 named tropical storms will form, five of them hurricanes; The Weather Channel forecasts 11 tropical storms — of which six will be hurricanes.

Last month, the meteorologists at Colorado State University estimated 10 tropical storms, of which four would be hurricanes. Colorado State University meteorologist William Gray was the first scientist to make seasonal hurricane forecasts in the 1980s.

Since 2000, NOAA's tropical storm and hurricane forecasts have been more right than wrong, but not by much: NOAA's prediction has been accurate in seven out of the past 12 years, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

NOAA's prediction was too low in four years and too high in just one year: 2006. Ten of the 12 years have seen above-average activity for tropical storms and hurricanes.

So far this year, one tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic: Alberto, which spun off the Southeast coast earlier this week.

Does the early start portend an active season? No, says the hurricane center's Kimberlain. "There is little, if any, relationship between the early occurrence of a storm at higher latitudes and the type of activity we will ultimately observe later in the season."

Forecasters also released their prediction for the Eastern Pacific basin, where 12 to 18 named storms are expected. An average Eastern Pacific hurricane season produces 15 named storms. Eastern Pacific storms and hurricanes primarily stay out to sea and seldom affect the USA, although some storms do hit the west coast of Mexico.

Two Eastern Pacific storms have formed this year: Tropical Storm Aletta, which spun harmlessly out to sea, and Hurricane Bud, which could affect the west coast of Mexico by this weekend.

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Unbound river to surge through Grand Canyon

Visitors to the majestic Grand Canyon next year may get to see something that has happened only a few times in the past half-century.

By Mark Henle,, The Arizona Republic

Billions of gallons of water will flow through the bypass tubes at Glen Canyon Dam as part of an experimental flood.

By Mark Henle,, The Arizona Republic

Billions of gallons of water will flow through the bypass tubes at Glen Canyon Dam as part of an experimental flood.

The Colorado River, restrained in its flow through the canyon since the 1960s, will be allowed to gush in semi-flood conditions again, beginning next year under an Interior Department plan to protect native fish and naturalize the river.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the decision to conduct high-volume releases from Glen Canyon Dam, which has drawn concern from the power industry and Native American tribes, represents "a milestone in the history of the Colorado River" that will enhance conservation and scientific knowledge. Simulated floods in the canyon are planned through 2020.

Leslie James, executive director of the Colorado River Energy Distributors Association, a non-profit coalition of electric companies, said she has "serious concerns" about the high-flow protocols: "I think the devil's in the details of how it will be implemented."

James said the release of surge water through spillways — bypassing hydroelectric turbines — is expected to cost power companies $8 million to $120 million over the next eight years. She said there is scientific evidence that surges from the dam during spring runoff might produce huge spawns of trout, the primary predator of the native humpback chub. "I think it raises a lot of questions," James said.

The first controlled flood could occur next spring. Interior Department protocols call for releases of up to 45,000 cubic feet per second during March-April and October-November, each lasting up to four days.

Until the Colorado River was dammed in the 1960s, it flowed through the Southwest, especially during flood seasons, when it carried sediment that formed sandbars and created eddies critical to native fish such as the humpback chub. Completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1966 allowed regulation of the river's flow for hydroelectric production but eliminated natural beaches and created a haven for predatory species such as rainbow trout.

Environmentalists always argued the dam should be opened occasionally to emulate the Colorado River's naturally occurring floods. Power industry officials resisted, saying lost hydroelectricity production would cost consumers millions of dollars.

Salazar said his decision was based on results from high-flow tests conducted in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

Nikolai Lash, a program director with the Grand Canyon Trust, a conservation organization, said man-made floods may help save a devastated river. "They're especially critical now because the Colorado system is in a severely depleted state," he said.

Kurt Dongoske, historic preservation officer for the Pueblo of Zuni, said the tribe will watch closely out of concern that artificial floods may damage religious sites.

The National Park Service issued a notice that says river rafters will be advised when high flows are planned. Rafters may travel at double the normal speed, and some camp areas may be inundated. Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, said the research will be critical to preserving the Grand Canyon's "awesome resources and visitor experience."

Contributing: Wagner also reports for The Arizona Republic

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