Heat & floods return to the nation's largest watershed

May to October is what the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit advocacy group, calls "danger season" in the United States – the part of the year when extreme weather impacts are most severe across the country.

The Mississippi River basin and its 31 states are seeing this firsthand right now, with extreme heat from the heartland to the Gulf and rain-driven flooding in the upper Midwest, as we report in our latest story.

These headlines are all too familiar. Last summer, our series A Changing Basin covered heat, floods, drought and wildfire smoke. We've written about how extreme heat affects farmworkers, and about what these hazards mean for a region often seen as a "climate haven." And we've reported that basin communities are looking to each other for solutions as flood risks and other climate-driven challenges increase.

A Concerned Scientists tool tracking these impacts for 2024 shows that 78% of extreme heat alerts since May 1 were made more likely by climate change. That's based on analysis by the nonprofit Climate Central, which computes how likely daily conditions would have been in a world without historical greenhouse gas emissions.

Even the agricultural runoff that fuels the Gulf "dead zone" could get worse in a warmer, wetter climate. Our new series Farm to Trouble showed that heavier rains may flush more nutrients into the watershed, juicing an already entrenched problem.

Our reporters will be covering all kinds of extreme weather impacts across the basin this summer. Send us your questions by replying to this email, and stay cool out there.

Cheers,

Annie Ropeik
Ag & Water Desk Assistant Director

PS: This newsletter is taking a week off next Tuesday. Enjoy the holiday — we'll be back in your inboxes on July 9 to introduce our new cohort of Desk reporters!

Our latest story

Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota cope with extreme flooding after torrential rains

"While we're still very early in the response, the projected damage is staggering," said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. "It is estimated that at least 1,900 properties are impacted and hundreds have been destroyed."

By Chris Clayton, DTN/The Progressive Farmer (and an Ag & Water Desk mentor journalist)

ICYMI: Catch up on Farm to Trouble

Read the whole series in The Gazette

Kentucky impacts: Check out our partner The Louisville Courier Journal's front-page version of Farm to Trouble (subscribers only)

Donate to the Desk

More headlines from the basin

More on flood damage:

A bridge between South Dakota and Iowa collapsed under floodwaters in the Big Sioux River (part of the Mississippi watershed by way of the Missouri River) this past weekend, the AP reported.

Prison heat risks:

Prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola want an end to forced labor when the heat index gets above 88 degrees, according to The Lens in New Orleans.

Summer recreation:

Extreme heat is changing summertime for kids in the South. Drew Hawkins of WWNO reports that children in New Orleans now experience nine times as many heat waves per summer as in the 1960s.

PFAS & health:

Chloe Johnson of The Star Tribune writes about the afterlife of Amara Strande, a young activist who died at 20 from a rare cancer her family believes stemmed from exposure to "forever chemicals."

Ohio derailment:

Pollution from last year's fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio carried to more than a dozen states — reaching as far as Wisconsin, Madeline Heim reports for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Farmland energy siting:

A new study maps abandoned farmland in the U.S. in hopes of aiding and improving local siting decisions, including for renewable energy -- also by Madeline Heim for The Journal Sentinel.

Wind turbines:

It can take months to clean up turbines damaged in storms, such as by lightning strikes or a tornado, Erin Jordan reports for The Gazette.