arizona drought

The U.S. House passed a package that authorizes millions of dollars in funding for drought-relief efforts on the Colorado River and wildfire recovery efforts.

The National League of Cities featured Flagstaff in a recent report on how climate change is driving the movement of people. Flagstaff’s cool temperatures are attracting more visitors at the same time the city is feeling the strain of housing shortages, water scarcity, and wildfires. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with the city’s sustainability director Nicole Antonopoulos about the stress of climate migration.

A week after a decades-old body in a barrel was found in Lake Mead, authorities in Las Vegas are trying to identify a second set of newly discovered human remains.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projects that in 2024 the water level in Lake Powell could drop below the intakes that serve the City of Page and the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation. The federal agency has announced short term measures to prop up the reservoir, which is threatened by drought and climate change. But the City of Page is thinking ahead to longer-term solutions. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with Bryan Hill of Page Utility Enterprise, the city’s power and water utility.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has announced what its water managers call “urgent, extraordinary actions” to prop up Lake Powell’s plummeting elevation. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

Federal water officials have announced they will keep hundreds of billions of gallons of Colorado River water inside Lake Powell to allow Glen Canyon Dam to continue producing hydropower while officials strategize how to operate the dam with a lower water elevation.

At a community meeting Saturday afternoon in Flagstaff, residents demanded answers from forest managers about why the Tunnel Fire wasn’t suppressed completely last Sunday when it was first called in and why the fire wasn’t monitored overnight, especially with strong winds in the forecast. The Coconino County Sheriff was hopeful evacuees could return home Sunday.

The Crooks Fire burning south of Prescott is now 5% and has burned about 2,800 acres so far. Calmer winds are in the weekend forecast, hopefully creating safer conditions for firefighters.

Snow and rain showers Friday morning helped douse dry grasses and kept them from igniting more easily, but precipitation levels weren’t high enough to impact extreme hotspots on the Tunnel Fire. Forest managers say it is now 21,000 acres and 3% contained.

Two Arizona rivers landed on the list of the top 10 "most endangered" rivers in the U.S. this week. The Colorado River is in the No. 1 spot on the annual report from American Rivers.