Scientists know how the storms are created, but it's nearly impossible to predict where a tornado will touch down, says Patrick Marsh, an NOAA meteorologist.
Inslee says the policies he's enacted in his state on the environment, the economy and health care are the same progressive actions he'd take if elected president.
In the past two years, more than 800,000 acres in northern Nevada have burned. The traditional sagebrush rangeland is being replaced by cheatgrass that burns hotter and more frequently.
The world's most widely used weed killer was once seen as one of the safest pesticides. Now it is blamed for causing cancer. Yet the scientific evidence remains disputed.
Oregon wants to reduce carbon emissions by adopting a cap-and-trade system, which would raise the cost of fossil fuels. But critics complain that the idea is poorly conceived.
Across the West, hundreds of communities are vulnerable to wildfires. But wildfire and recovery experts warn that the impulse to re-create what was there before disaster is misguided and dangerous.
A surge of floodwater is moving from Oklahoma and into Arkansas. The rain has been relentless the past month and swollen rivers and tributaries are overwhelming some cities.
NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Col. Christopher Hussin, of Army Corps of Engineers in Oklahoma, about the state's levee system and the threat it faces from historic flooding.
Dozens of cities have ambitious plans to get their electricity from clean or renewable sources. But those goals can clash with power providers, whose priority remains economics, not climate change.
Record rainfall and flooding are causing all sorts of problems in Oklahoma. And more rain is predicted to make it even worse. In Tulsa, thousands of people have been evacuated.