NewsPronto

 
The Times


.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

Why the Southeast is burning – extreme drought is only part of the cause

  • Written by Zachary Handlos, Atmospheric Science Educator, Georgia Institute of Technology
imageFire crews responded to dozens of wildfires burning in Georgia and northern Florida on April 23, 2026.Georgia Department of Natural Resources via AP

Large parts of the southeastern U.S. are in the midst of an exceptional drought, and it is fueling dozens of wildfires in Florida and Georgia.

One of those wildfires, in southeastern Georgia’s...

Read more: Why the Southeast is burning – extreme drought is only part of the cause

More Articles ...

  1. Supreme Court’s ‘shadow docket’ brings hasty decisions with long-lasting implications, outside of its usual careful deliberation
  2. School gardens help students learn science and connect with agriculture – but making them happen isn’t easy
  3. The new brain break app for Philadelphia students raises questions about more screen time
  4. Many churches, synagogues and mosques are built around families – and they’re struggling to respond to rising singles
  5. New reading textbooks, same problem: Why children’s reading scores in the US aren’t rising
  6. What we lose when artificial intelligence does our shopping
  7. If Justice Alito resigns before the midterms, a Trump nominee to the Supreme Court is likely to sail through confirmation
  8. Extreme rain on snow is testing aging dams across Michigan and Wisconsin – this is the future in a warming world
  9. Heavy rain on snow is testing aging dams across Michigan and Wisconsin – this is the future in a warming world
  10. Sorry, Tampa Bay, mixed-use districts don’t reverse the dismal economics of sports venues
  11. Chernobyl at 40: Secret Stasi files reveal extent of Soviet misinformation campaign over nuclear disaster
  12. What a Muslim folk trickster can teach us about the danger of holding a single worldview
  13. Rotavirus cases in children are rising – but a highly effective vaccine has slashed hospitalizations from the virus by 80% in 2 decades
  14. Is Trump heading to a Pyrrhic victory in Iran?
  15. High school yearbooks focus on the fun students had, obscuring the pain people also experienced
  16. HEPA air purifiers may boost brain power in adults over 40 – new research
  17. Why Trump can’t just decree changes to voting by mail – a former federal judge explains how the president’s executive order is ‘a solution looking for a problem’
  18. How personal finance advice is getting political, thanks to ‘finfluencers’
  19. It’s a sing-off! Myth-busting about birds and sex when it comes to defending the nest
  20. Why the US military is stuck using $1 million missiles against Iran’s $20,000 drones
  21. Research at Chernobyl and Fukushima shows how radioactive materials move in the environment
  22. Hurricanes devastated Florida’s East Coast – then seagrass made an unexpected comeback
  23. Attending multiple places of worship is the norm for many Americans
  24. Agricultural work is dangerous – but good communication can save lives in Colorado
  25. Signs of economic instability emerge in Oakland County, one of Michigan’s wealthiest
  26. US government ramps up mass surveillance with help of AI tech, data brokers – and your apps and devices
  27. Umbilical cord blood may hold clues for a child’s risk of developing Type 1 diabetes
  28. Despite all the likes, literallys and dropped g’s, English isn’t decaying before our eyes
  29. Data centers don’t have to be a burden on local communities – and can even support them by generating power and repurposing waste heat
  30. NATO’s internal cohesion is being threatened (again) – but in pushing for support on Iran, Trump may risk eroding US influence on the alliance
  31. Placebo effect can work as well as real medicine – but your body may need permission to use it
  32. Don’t just plant trees, plant forests to restore biodiversity for the future
  33. We designed the turf for soccer’s biggest World Cup ever – here’s how we created the same playing experience across 3 countries
  34. Intimate partner homicide has clear warning signs – and is often preventable, research shows
  35. Is the science that we do today truth, likely to be a lie, or is it undetermined?
  36. It’s a myth that baby boys are less social than girls – a new look at decades of research shows all babies are born to connect
  37. Most people do not realize when a personal message they receive was written by AI, study finds
  38. Schools are supposed to limit using restraint and seclusion to discipline kids – but parents I spoke with say the practice is wildly misused
  39. ICE’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement was tried once before – by Arizona’s notorious sheriff Joe Arpaio in the early 2000s
  40. 1914 Ludlow Massacre took lives of 25 miners and family members during bitter strike for fair wages and conditions
  41. When oil prices spike, where does the money go?
  42. Hampshire College’s demise is yet another blow to creative, outside-the-box options in higher education
  43. Why the future of marijuana legalization remains hazy despite high public support
  44. Trump sidelined Congress’ authority over war on Iran – and lawmakers allowed it, extending a 75-year trend
  45. Trump’s coercive tactics in Latin America evoke era of gunboat diplomacy – and the rise of anti-imperialism it helped spur
  46. I’ve fired one of America’s most powerful lasers – here’s what a shot day looks like
  47. About half of young Americans can’t name a single Holocaust site, repeating a pattern of ignorance seen in postwar Germany
  48. Ancient teeth reveal clues to the environment humans’ early ancestors evolved in millions of years ago
  49. How Islamophobic rhetoric leaves an impact on the mental health of Muslim Americans
  50. ‘Right to race’ laws and the battle over America’s local racetracks