heat wave

Meteorologist Steve Van Horn with the National Weather Service says the atmosphere is conducive for the possibility of wet, slow-moving thunderstorms today.

The Wenatchee area as well as North Central Washington and the entire Northwest is about to see really hot weather, with temperatures at 20 degrees above normal by the weekend. National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Bodnar says the weather pattern is coming from an area of very strong high pressure...

With debate over the 2023 Farm Bill set to pick up in the coming months, commodity groups have been building their wish lists and letting lawmakers know what they would like to see in this year’s legislation.   Representative Dan Newhouse, a central Washington farmer, said for him, he wants a Farm Bill that encourages and promotes research and development.  He said ...

The Environmental Defense Fund says extreme heat, changing rainfall, and other climate change impacts will make it harder to grow U.S. staple crops as soon as 2030.   The group said future food supplies and farmer livelihoods will be at stake without adaptation efforts getting underway immediately.  Th...

The canola crop in the Northwest is making a comeback after last year's drought.  PNW Canola reports 2022 yields were up from the previous drought year, but still lower than average.  It's not clear at this point why the crop is making a sluggish recovery, or whether it's a long-term impact from the two-year drought.  This past summer ...

September appears to have picked up right where August left off, with many regions across the Pacific Northwest reporting record or near record heat to start the month.   “We kicked off September on the 1st with a September record tying high of 112 degrees in Lancaster, CA," noted USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "That wa...

China’s record heatwave is beginning to disappear, and farmers are assessing the damage caused by the lengthy dry spell.  Reuters said the Chinese government is urging its producers to replant or switch crops where they can.  Over 70 days of extreme temperatures and low rainfall have hit the country’s crops hard.  Rain is forecast ov...

When we look back on July 2022, one word will come to mind, at least here in the Pacific Northwest.  Hot.  And it wasn't just our neck of the woods that saw extreme heat, but hot conditions were reported up and down the west coast, as well as across the southern Plains.  And Bra...

2021 was a challenging year for the ag industry across the Pacific Northwest, and those ramifications are still being felt.  Chris Voigt Executive Director of the Washington state Potato Commission says last year's heat dome, the extremely hot temperatures the region experienced in late June, led to a smaller crop than expected.  He...

On Thursday, Dan Newhouse, Chair of the Western Caucus and 21 other lawmakers introduced legislation to reauthorized the Emergency Relief Program, formerly known as WHIP+.  The lawmakers said the ERP will offer critical assistance to producers who suffered crop damage because of natural disasters in 2022.  They added E...