Parts of the West Coast experienced very unhealthy or hazardous air from wildfires for the first time ever recorded. Millions endured that smoke for twice as long as the recent average.
Tropical Storm Beta is heading for a part of Louisiana where thousands of people's electricity service hasn't recovered from being knocked out by Hurricane Laura.
Improving weather conditions have aided firefighters' efforts to contain major wildfires on the West Coast, but dozens rage on. The Bobcat Fire has become one of Los Angeles County's largest ever.
There's only been one other year – 2005 – that Greek names have been needed. The National Hurricane Center on Friday announced storms called Alpha and Beta have formed in the Atlantic.
The firefighter died on Thursday in the El Dorado Fire some 70 miles east of Los Angeles. The blaze began two weeks ago after an expectant couple set off fireworks to reveal the sex of their child.
It's been several days since Hurricane Sally hit the northern Gulf coast. Sally was less powerful than past hurricanes, but still caused a slew of damage.
Oregon has evacuated more than 2,500 prison inmates due to wildfires. The experience was harrowing, families say, as inmates faced unsanitary and unsafe conditions.
"The smoke is so dense," one agricultural worker in Oregon told NPR. "I feel dizzy, my throat hurts and my head feels like it's going to explode." Their employers are also faced with tough choices.
"Widespread flash flooding and minor to moderate river flooding is likely" in parts of Georgia and South Carolina, forecasters say. They're tracking a new potential storm in the Gulf of Mexico.
Sally made landfall in Alabama as a Category 2 hurricane with high winds. Forecasters warned the slow-moving storm may bring catastrophic flooding to parts of Alabama and Florida.
Jon Perkinson of Orange Beach, Ala., talks about how he found himself and his family in the path of Hurricane Sally. They watched boats capsize and feared for their lives.
Climate change is exacerbating the severity of the wildfires on the West Coast, but prior and current forest management decisions, and politics, also play a huge role.
Sally came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane, pushing a surge of ocean water onto the coast and dumping torrential rain. Forecasters expect the storm to cause dangerous flooding.
Poor air quality from West Coast wildfires have interfered with life across the region. In Los Angeles, street vendors were forced inside and parents scrambled to prevent children's asthma attacks.
The sun can affect people's electronics, the power grid and communications and navigation systems. But scientists predict that for the next decade or so, the Sun's activity will not be too disruptive.
Scientists have linked an increasing prevalence and intensity of wildfires to climate change, and residents of Western states are grappling with the dread that severe fire seasons are the new normal.
Trump declined to acknowledge the role climate change likely plays in fueling the flames. In Delaware, Democratic challenger Joe Biden addressed the disasters' links to human-caused climate change.
In addition to dangerous smoke and fog, there is now concern that two of the biggest fires threatening cities and towns near Portland, Ore., might combine.
Sally is now forecast to fall just short of being a Category 3 hurricane. But flooding poses a huge threat: "Slow movement means more rain," National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham says.
Residents of Bermuda are being urged to protect life and property ahead of Paulette, while on the Gulf Coast, forecasters are warning of potentially life-threatening storm surge from Sally.
California is looking at what it has in the toolbox to reduce fire danger and severity, from forest management to zoning and building codes and inspections.
