The Latest Breaking News from Southwest

Record high temperatures continue to sear the Southwest through the Mississippi Valley, driving weekend energy demand as people turn to air conditioners to cool down, with the heat forecast to spread to Chicago and the Great Lakes early this week.

"Dangerous heat" to pummel Southwest, Southern and Central areas overnight before moving farther north and east, NWS warns.

A few of the conditions for the advancement of rains missing, says IMD

More than 5,000 firefighters are battling multiple wildland blazes in dry, windy weather across the Southwest

Much of the western U.S. has been in the grip of an unrelenting drought since early 2020. The dryness has coincided with record-breaking wildfires, intense and long-lasting heat waves, low stream flows and dwindling water supplies in reservoirs that millions of people across the region rely on.

Experts say the Southwestern U.S. is drier than it's been in some 1,200 years, which is one of, but not the only, drivers of the large infernos burning in New Mexico.

California had its driest January to April period on record.

DENVER — Dust and smoke blowing in from fires, dry land and construction this spring periodically have turned Colorado’s blue skies red, and air quality experts anticipate more crazy haze in the future as wind scours particles from the arid Southwest.

The country's biggest wildfire is currently burning in New Mexico.