Portions of the Pacific Ocean cooled considerably in July, affirming that a La Nina weather system likely will form this fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center pegged the odds of a La Nina prevailing in November, December and January at 69%. Most likely, the La Nina will be weak, according to NOAA, though the agency estimated the chances of a moderate La Nina at 1-in-3 and a strong La Nina at 1-in-10.

The first live Asian giant hornet sighted in 2021 in Washington state was found attacking a paper wasp nest in a rural area of northern Whatcom County earlier this week. According to a Washington State Department of Agriculture news release Thursday, Aug. 12, the report was confirmed as being an Asian giant hornet, which are popularly known as “murder hornets.”

Smoke visible in the Leavenworth area reported by KPQ listeners is being linked to the Nasom Fire at Lake Wenatchee. Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue says ash has been falling on homes along the south shore as the fire is growing on the west end of Nason Ridge, above Rainy Pass. It’s still seven miles from homes along the lake and is being managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

LAME DEER, Mont. (AP) — A wildfire bore down on rural southeastern Montana towns Thursday as continuing hot, dry weather throughout the West drove flames through more than a dozen states. Several thousand people in Montana remained under evacuation orders as the Richard Spring Fire advanced across the sparsely-populated Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

Northern leopard frogs are rapidly disappearing in the Northwest. Biologists hope this effort will help the population in Washington. The release last week was an effort to help boost this genetically important population. The frogs are bellwethers for ecosystem health. Now that they’ve grown to roughly six centimeters long, the frogs are ready to join the state’s only known population at Central Washington’s Columbia National Wildlife Refuge.

Pacific Northwest salmon could get some help from the proposed federal infrastructure package. Some of the funding in the U.S. Senate’s version of the bill could help remove barriers to salmon habitat – just not the same barriers on the Snake River that Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, had hoped to eventually include.

Farmers can lose thousands waiting for authorized dealers to fix malfunctioning equipment

A major heat event will occur over the region this week. But let me make it clear at the outset, it won't be nearly as warm or lengthy as June's event. Seattle and northwest Washington will have a far easier time. The Willamette Valley will fry and some places in eastern Washington will get near 110F.

SPOKANE – Fire restrictions are being extended on public lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Spokane District and the Bureau of Reclamation in eastern Washington. The temporary ban was renewed Aug. 7 in Adams, Asotin, Benton, Chelan, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Walla Walla, Whitman, and Yakima counties.

OKANOGAN COUNTY, Wash. — Both directions of State Route 20, also known as the North Cascades Highway, fully reopened to traffic Monday after a section of the roadway was closed for weeks due to wildfire activity in the area. A 20-mile stretch of the highway closed in mid-July and was extended multiple times. While drivers can now use SR 20 to travel between Skagit and Methow valleys, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) said fire response crews are still using parts of the highway for staging and work.

Snohomish County held a briefing Tuesday, where it announced a mask directive for anyone indoors older than five. This includes both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The reported cases have doubled in the county over the past month, from 651 over a period of one week to about 1,300 this past week.

Facing a new onslaught of patients with COVID-19, Providence Health Care officials announced Tuesday that all non-emergency surgeries and procedures will be halted at Sacred Heart Medical Center and Holy Family Hospital. The pause is “effective immediately,” according a Providence news release.

Here is how we accomplished our successful strategic planning process. I hope that you can find some useful ideas to help you get through your next process with as little pain—and as much gain—as possible.

GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire raging in Northern California exploded in size overnight, becoming the third-largest wildfire in state history amid high temperatures and strong winds. Better weather conditions were expected to aid the firefight on Friday. The Dixie Fire grew by 110 square miles (285 square kilometers) between Thursday night and Friday morning, making the blaze the largest wildfire currently raging in the nation.

NCW — Tuesday’s lightning storms started a slew of small wildfires across North Central Washington. Firefighting crews across the region are scrambling to contain the damage as another potentially dangerous weather system moves in. At least nine fires have started in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest since Tuesday, all of which appear to be lightning-caused, said Victoria Wilkins, Forest Service spokesperson.

Aug 5 (Reuters) - The United States hit a six-month high for new COVID cases with over 100,000 infections reported on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as the Delta variant ravages areas where people did not get vaccinated. The country is reporting over 94,819 cases on a seven-day average, a five-fold increase in less than a month, Reuters data through Wednesday showed. The seven-day average provides the most accurate picture of how fast cases are rising since some states only report infections once a week or only on weekdays.

WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. – The Whatcom County Health Department is echoing the governor and the CDC in advising everyone to wear masks indoors in public places regardless of vaccination status. The health department also recommends everyone wear masks in crowded outdoor settings due to the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant.

The Cedar Creek Fire near the Methow Valley in Okanogan County is growing in size and is now burning almost 49,000 acres. Michael Davis with the response team says they’re trying to prevent any spread into communities. “We’re really working hard to keep the fire out of the Twisp River Drainage,” said Davis. “We really don’t want to let the fire get down into there and potentially threaten Twisp or the communities between here and the town.”

SEATTLE — The Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) held a briefing Monday to discuss COVID-19 vaccines and the impact of the now-dominant delta variant on the state’s strained health care system. The briefing was led by WSHA CEO Cassie Sauer, who was joined by Dr. John Lynch of UW Medicine and Florence Chang, executive vice president and COO of MultiCare Health System.

Aug 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. states of Florida and Louisiana were at or near their highest hospitalization numbers of the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, driven by the still-spreading Delta variant, as one doctor warned of the "darkest days" yet. More than 10,000 patients were hospitalized in Florida as of Sunday, surpassing that state's record. Louisiana was expected to break its record within 24 hours, prompting Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, to order residents to wear masks again indoors.