Baidoa in Somalia has seen no rain in two years. Cattle are dead, wells are dry and fields are empty – certain diseases such as cholera have become endemic. The drought is the most severe in living memory. Aid agencies believe more than 6 million people in Somalia need assistance, of whom about half are threatened with famine. People are leaving rural areas to where they think they will find food and water supplies, which humanitarian funding cannot sustain.

It’s peak hurricane season, but the nation’s worst weather disaster right now is raging on the High Plains. An intense drought has quickly gripped much of the Dakotas and parts of Montana this summer, catching farmers and ranchers off-guard. The multi-agency U.S. Drought Monitor recently upgraded the drought to “exceptional,” its highest severity level, matching the intensity of the California drought at its peak.

Nearly a quarter of all the rivers in England are at risk because of the vast amounts of water being removed for use by farms, businesses and people homes, according to a new report. Environment Agency figures obtained under freedom of information law by conservation charity WWF showed that 14 per cent of rivers were classed as over-abstracted – “meaning water removed is causing river to drop below levels required to sustain wildlife”.

Four countries in an arc across central Africa and the Middle East—Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen—are at risk of mass starvation due to conflict and drought, with two parts of South Sudan already declared officially 'under famine' by the United Nations. Another region is edging towards the worst-case classification, according to U.N. officials.

It has been likened to a strip tease, with the monsoon playing the role of an alluring dancer, Met officials, who announce the monsoon’s advance, providing the drum roll for the performance, and India’s 1.3 billion-strong population acting as the audience… By Sudha Ramachandran.

Sitting on the edge of Kenya’s highest mountain, its spectacular dun-coloured vistas stretching out into the endless distance, Laikipia is one of the most beautiful corners of east Africa. The region received a rush of publicity in 2010 when Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton at a log cabin there. Tens of thousands of tourists now flock to parks and reserves in an area that promises rare sights including the world’s last three remaining northern white rhinoceroses.

California water officials, still struggling with fixes at Oroville Dam, will have to temporarily shut down the pumping station that delivers water to much of Southern California and Silicon Valley after discovering damage at another key state reservoir. The state Department of Water Resources confirmed Tuesday that operators discovered damage to the intake structure at the Clifton Court Forebay, a nearly two-mile-wide reservoir that stores water for the State Water Project...

In an analysis published in the journal Ecology Letters, the authors suggest that forests globally are at risk from the increased severity and frequency of droughts. The results show that trees across the world show a similar response, with death increasing consistently when drought severity increases. Dr Sarah Greenwood, a Postdoctoral Researcher in Stirling’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, explained that they have noticed that the death of trees caused by drought is consistent around the world and across diverse environments.

Southern California and parts of the South both saw improvement in drought conditions this week.

The California drought has killed more than 102m trees in a die-off of forests that increases the risk of catastrophic wildfires and other threats to humans, officials said on Friday. The latest aerial survey by the US Forest Service shows there are 36m more dead trees since May in the state and there has been a 100% increase since 2015.

Already dealing with parched conditions, the U.S. Southwest faces the threat of megadroughts this century as temperatures rise, says a new study that found the risk is reduced if heat-trapping gases are curbed. Oppressive dry spells lasting at least two decades have gripped the Southwest before, but scientists said future megadroughts would be hotter and more severe, putting a strain on water resources. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, is the latest to find that droughts more extreme than what is currently being experienced could become more common as the planet warms.

Nation’s weather service says possibility of La Nina uncertain.

California is entering its sixth year of a record drought, but it's the long-term forecast that has experts worried. The forever drought could be the new normal. It's already affecting what you eat.

Supreme Court orders Karnataka state to release water from disputed river to neighboring Tamil Nadu after violence erupted in both states over water sharing

The extreme weather events of 2016 show the deadly fingerprints of global warming, scientists say.

The brush fire raging in the rugged mountains in the Santa Clarita Valley grew to more than 22,000 acres overnight as firefighters struggle to gain control of the wildfire amid a brutal heat wave.

The massive Fort McMurray wildfire that led to a mass evacuation of the northern Alberta city has become the costliest disaster for insurers in Canadian history, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

A fast-moving fire that has already destroyed 80 homes and scorched 8,000 acres is now bearing down on several other communities in eastern Kern County, according to authorities.

A wildfire fed by parched land and high winds spread in southern California on Saturday, forcing hundreds of people to leave their homes as the blaze formed destructive columns of flames known as fire tornadoes.

Hundreds of people have evacuated to escape a wildfire in coastal Southern California and a larger blaze in rural New Mexico as hot weather feeds the flames, raising health concerns in other regions, officials said on Thursday.