I’ve been wandering in the Southwestern monsoon lately (Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico), drifting with the storms and sleeping on a cot next to my Jeep with a tarp suspended from its roof to the ground when rain is a threat. With an open door, it’s roomy and stormproof inside with easy access to gear and supplies. There’s freedom in such simple living to flow with the weather through the open West.
A shift in wind direction from westerly to southerly typically triggers the American Southwest monsoon by mid-June and runs into September, bringing storms of often-spectacular cloudbursts that produce widespread flash floods and dangerous lightning. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
#monsoon #storm #southwest #nature #environment #desert #weather #climatechange #globalwarming #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #Canon #canonusa
Minutes after a lightning bolt exploded a full-grown white fir tree, its splintered remains are scattered as far as 70 yards away near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I had just driven by for several turns of the winding road when the strike hit. Part of the tree hit a passing car but no one was hurt. A sizable piece of the tree can be seen lodged in the upper branches of a once similarly-sized white fir growing a few feet away from where the exploded tree had been.
I’ve been wandering in the Southwestern monsoon lately (Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico), drifting with the storms and sleeping on a cot next to my Jeep with a tarp suspended from its roof to the ground when rain is a threat. With an open door, it’s roomy and stormproof inside with easy access to gear and supplies. There’s freedom in such simple living to flow with the weather through the open West.
A shift in wind direction from westerly to southerly typically triggers the American Southwest monsoon by mid-June and runs into September, bringing storms of often-spectacular cloudbursts that produce widespread flash floods and dangerous lightning. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
#monsoon #storm #southwest #nature #environment #desert #weather #climatechange #globalwarming #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #Canon #canonusa
Sometimes it can almost seem that lightning is trying to hunt you down. Close strikes make a particular sound, and can be quite unnerving. (shot with a 15mm wide angle lens)
I’ve been wandering in the Southwestern monsoon lately (Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico), drifting with the storms and sleeping on a cot next to my Jeep with a tarp suspended from its roof to the ground when rain is a threat. With an open door, it’s roomy and stormproof inside with easy access to gear and supplies. There’s freedom in such simple living to flow with the weather through the open West.
A shift in wind direction from westerly to southerly typically triggers the American Southwest monsoon by mid-June and runs into September, bringing storms of often-spectacular cloudbursts that produce widespread flash floods and dangerous lightning. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
#monsoon #storm #southwest #nature #environment #desert #weather #climatechange #globalwarming #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #Canon #canonusa
The Park Fire has blasted across 430,000 acres so far, making it the fourth biggest wildfire in California history. If it continues to grow another 30,000 acres, it will slip into third place. As for me, I’m going to a different story this week but because this fire season is still young and already this active, I expect more big fires in the coming months.
In Southern California, the fire season usually heats up from about now to November or December, especially when the hot Santa Ana Winds start blowing in from the deserts, compressing and intensifying as they rise to press through mountains and passes.
I’ve been thinking lately about the fact that not so many years ago, I’d covered the most of California’s biggest wildfires on record but now, as a the climate is changing and producing bigger, more powerful and more numerous wildfires, the previous big fires are quickly diminishing in significance for the history books. (Photos by David McNew)
#California #fire #wildfire #firefighters #nature #environment #weather #climatechange #weather #globalwarming #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #Canon #canonusa
Cal Fire firefighters deploy a large Type 3 drone to drop incendiary devices to start fires in an effort to control and contain one of the biggest wildfires on record in California. The drone ejects Plastic Spherical Dispenser (PSD) balls, about the size of a pingpong ball, that ignite by chemical reaction to create fire when they hit the ground. Fire bosses can watch a live drone feed on monitors to evaluate operations in progress.
The Park Fire has blasted across 430,000 acres so far, making it the fourth largest wildfire in California history. If it continues to grow another 30,000 acres, it will slip into third place. (Photos by David McNew)
#drone #California #fire #wildfire #firefighters #nature #environment #weather #climatechange #weather #globalwarming #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #Canon #canonusa
An extended excessive heatwave has been roasting Death Valley, the lowest and hottest place on the continent, even more than the other record breaking hot spots on the continent. High temperatures have been hovering around 127º to 129º F this week.
The all-time record high of 130º was recorded here at Furnace Creek in August 2020 and July 2021 (An often-quoted world record high of 134º in Death Valley in July of 1913 has been deemed not credible by numerous scientists). Adding to further public confusion, a digital thermometer outside the visitor center that is the social media must-stop site for selfies is notoriously wrong, reading one to five degrees hotter than the official temperature.
Visiting Death Valley in the summer is generally safe as most people now spend most of their visit in modern air conditioned vehicles, hotel rooms and restaurants, and travel with an ice box of cold drinks at hand. That is, as long as they stick the main roads and avoid hiking very far during the heat of the day. It’s not unusual for an occasional unprepared motorist to break down on the road and die before being discovered to be in trouble, or for even an experienced hot weather hiker to succumb to deadly heat exhaustion after just a couple of miles in these extreme temperatures.
It’s not just we technologically advantaged humans who suffer though. Native animals in these photos, like the coyote and the bird that tried to hid from the sun underneath me, struggle to survive with nowhere else to go.
(Photos by David McNew)
Many thousands of Illegal fireworks explode above homes on July 4, 2024 across a wide swath of Los Angeles, California. As a heatwave intensifies across the region, the risk of fireworks igniting house fires is further compounded by an increased danger of wildfires. Using illegal fireworks can cost one a fine of up to $1,000 dollars or up to a year in jail but the enormous number of fireworks is more than law enforcement officers can handle, so few people are caught. The explosions, which last late into the night, have grown bigger and more powerful over the years, terrifying pets and wildlife, and making sleep virtually impossible, especially for children. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
In an aerial view from a drone, the trail of the Firefly Alpha rocket rises behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline after it launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, on July 3, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The $15,000,000 two-stage rocket, also nicknamed ‘Noise of Summer’ by Firefly Aerospace, will launch a collection of eight CubeSat satellites as part of NASA’s ELaNA 43 (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites 43) mission. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images
One of several climate-related messages are projected onto the Hollywood Sign from a distance by Greenpeace activists, directed at the United Nations climate negotiations in Dubai. (Photo by David McNew)
#hollywoodsign #hollywood #unitednations #activists #climateaction #greenpeace #climate #climatechange #nature #environment #science #California #photography #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #GettyImagesNews
Record-breaking heatwaves have been rolling across much of America. I visited Palm Springs, CA.
1 - Two people carry cold drinks while crossing the street as radiating heat warps and shimmers the atmosphere around them.
2 - Dawn and John Benson endure the daily brutal summer desert heat, unhoused in an urban environment of many concrete surfaces that reflect and intensify official temperatures that can reach 120º or more.
3 - On the I-10 freeway, wind turbines produce green energy as petroleum-burning cars and trucks shimmer in the heat.
4 - An elderly woman drinks under the falling waters of misters near a restaurant as young women walk by.
5 - Grass at a new housing development that is still under construction has already been killed by the scorching sun.
6 - People who can afford to, spend most of their time in air conditioned cars and buildings, or among the water misters that line many downtown sidewalks near restaurants.
(Photos by David McNew)
#extremeweather #climatechange #nature #environment #science #California #photography #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #GettyImagesNews #AFP #newyorktimes #washingtonpost #Canon #canonusa
Heat haze distorts the atmosphere around a hiker wearing a ‘Hellfire Club’ shirt today before the first rays of morning reached Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, on a day that might have produced a new world heat record heat event in Death Valley. Weather forecasters had called for a high temperature of 129º Fahrenheit with the possibly of surpassing 130º. At the end of the day though, the official temperature stopped rising at 128º. A temperature of 134º was reported in Death Valley in 1913 but many modern weather experts have rejected that and other early 20th century heat claims. Official thermometers have only hit the 130º height a few times, all in Death Valley. There may be remote locations in other countries with potential to produce Death Valley-like conditions too but they have no official weather stations. Death Valley National Park has become a destination for so-called "heat tourists" seeking to experience the hottest events on the planet. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
#deathvalley #extremeweather #climatechange #nature #environment #science #California #photography #photojournalism #reportage #onassignment #photography #GettyImages #GettyImagesNews #AFP #newyorktimes #washingtonpost #Canon #canonusa
Hundreds of thousands of Illegal fireworks were set off over Los Angeles on the Fourth of July. Although setting off illegal fireworks can bring a penalty of up to $1,000 dollars or up to a year in jail, the enormous number of fireworks is more than law enforcement officials can manage so few people are caught. The fireworks go late into the night and have gotten bigger and more powerful over the years, terrifying pets and wildlife, and making it impossible for many to sleep, especially children.
Note - The 7th image (3ed from last) is from a drone view, looking down at a fireworks explosion and the 5 freeway. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
#fireworks #fourthofjuly #july4th #drone #dronephotography #losangeles #California #cityscapes #photojournalism #reportage #photography #GettyImages #AFP #newyorktimes #washingtonpost #bbcnews #mavic2pro #dji #canon #canonusa #canonphotography
