The Southern Plains states get a severe drought about once a decade, but long-lasting droughts lately have been leaving farms, rangeland and water sources with too little time to recover.
Articles on Great Plains
Displaying all articles
European colonists chronicled their version of how Indigenous peoples lived with horses. New collaborative research adds scientific detail to Indigenous narratives that tell a different story.
Heat waves, droughts and deep freezes can all strain the electric grid, leading utilities to impose rolling blackouts. Climate change is likely to make these events more common.
Hospitals are losing staff to quarantines as rural COVID-19 cases rise, and administrators fear flu season will make it worse. And then there’s the politics.
Coronavirus cases have risen sharply across the Mountain West, Midwest and plains. Over 70% of nonmetropolitan counties are now “red zones,” suggesting viral spread is out of control.
Hurricane and tornado winds spin in circles, but there’s another, equally dangerous storm type where winds barrel straight ahead. They’re called derechos, and are most common in summer.
What creates such dramatic storms across the US Great Plains? The key factors are topography and temperature differences.
Bison once dominated the Great Plains but were nearly wiped out by hunters in the 1800s. Now scientists are learning that bison’s presence improves plant and wildlife diversity on the prairies.
There are some good explanations for the mismatch between regional support for climate action and the areas where renewable energy is making the biggest inroads.
Top contributors
-
Professor of Atmospheric Science and Colorado State Climatologist, Colorado State University
-
State Policy Director, Farley Health Policy Center; Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz
-
Postdoctoral Researcher in Anthropobiology and Genomics, Université de Toulouse
-
Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado Denver
-
Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology, University of Colorado Boulder
-
Josey Centennial Professor of Energy Resources, The University of Texas at Austin
-
Family Physician, Assistant Dean for Rural Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center, University of Kansas
-
Research Assistant Professor in Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University
-
Elbert L. Fausett Distinguished Professor of Biology, Hendrix College
-
Senior Associate Scientist, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
-
Senior Project Manager, Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP); Project Manager, National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE), University of Michigan