Community Water System at Risk: Extreme precipitation throughout the summer and sustained high water has resulted in erosion of the location for the water transmission line and Noatak's two water wells.

These prolonged above-normal temperatures required the City of Cranbrook to increase water restrictions to levels not generally experienced by the community. Additionally, during this time (personal experience), the water was discoloured and had an odor, forcing bottled water to ensure safe drinking.

Extreme drought in the west means that households with private waterworks are out of water. Elvar's dried up. "The situation is very serious," he says.

The driest summer in 150 years has turned Yakutia into a tinderbox and seen wildfires tear through the region.

An unknown number of residents, firefighters and policemen are reportedly trapped between two fronts of a major wildfire in northern Athens that has already destroyed homes in the suburb of Varymbombi and is spreading to Thrakomakedones.

The notorious lúsmý (Culicoides reconditus), a species of biting midge that has colonised Iceland for the first time in the past few years. The tiny flies can cause severe reactions, with large, sore, itchy spots that can remain angry for a week or more, and sometimes spread into a sort of rash.

"My husband and I have been dipnetting on the Kasilof since 2014. This year we noticed more small fish than usual and all but ~5 of the 35 fish we caught had parasites."

Several people have fallen ill with food poisoning after eating shellfish in B.C. in the last 10 days, and health officials are warning that warm ocean waters might be to blame.

By Julia Lerner Richard Jessee, a longtime summer miner, survived an aggressive bear attack near his cabin last week.

The BC Conservation Officer Service said the latest attack happened around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, while a woman was jogging along the seawall.

In recent years, we have observed the salmon arriving at our territory along the Skeena River later than normal and in fewer numbers. The total number of wild sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) returning to the Skeena River have decreased by 69% in comparison to historical stocks.

As of Monday, some 300 wildfire were burning across British Columbia. Thirty-seven blazes, 12 per cent of all B.C. fires, are rated as highly visible or a threat to life or property. Several new evacuation orders and alerts were posted over the weekend by regional governments across B.C.’s southern Interior.

Air quality concerns have extended across the foothills and west-central Alberta including Calgary and surrounding areas.

Of the 92 pools of mosquitoes tested, 30 had at least one mosquito that tested positive for California serogroup viruses. There has been one confirmed diagnosis of meningoencephalitis — a severe neurological condition — caused by the snowshoe hare virus. There have been no positive cases yet of West Nile Virus.

Active fires in northeastern Ontario and eastern Manitoba are expected to send smoke across northern Quebec today and Wednesday, Environment Canada said in a special air quality statement posted for each of the region’s 14 communities.

Wildfires on permafrost are ravaging Yakutia - or the Sakha Republic - the largest and coldest entity of the Russian Federation. The scale is mesmerizing. There are some 300 separate fires, now covering 12,140 square kilometers - but only around half of these are being tackled, because they pose a threat to people. The rest are burning unchecked.

Climate change is keeping temperatures higher in the fall, setting up browntail-moth caterpillars to boom in summer. Their hairs are barbed and hollow and there’s a reservoir of a toxin inside.

Gases from the ongoing eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula may lead to fewer sunny days this summer, Vísir reports. Eruption gases have been creating a haze in the capital area in recent days and causing discomfort for people with asthma or other lung conditions. Air quality specialist Þorsteinn Jóhannsson says locals should get into the […]

Air quality alerts remain in place for several areas in B.C.'s southern Interior on Tuesday as more than 200 wildfires continue to burn through hundreds of square kilometres of the province.

It's been a hot July. In fact, it was the 10th warmest in 120 years.