“Lakes Powell and Mead, the nation’s largest reservoirs, are drying up, sending a Colorado River system that provides water and electricity for millions of people into a state of crisis with no end in sight,” the New York Times reports.

“Water levels in Lake Powell, along the Utah-Arizona border, fell to a record low on Saturday. Lake Mead, the larger of the two and farthest downstream on the Colorado River, dropped to its lowest recorded point a week earlier.”

“A week of stifling heat in Europe this June was unusually deadly, mortality data shows, producing a historic spike in deaths in a continent where major heat waves are becoming more common,” the New York Times reports.

“Around 16,000 more people than usual died in Europe during the heat wave, according to an analysis by the European Mortality Monitoring Network. Most of the deaths were in northern countries — France, Belgium and Germany — that are not accustomed to such high temperatures and struggled to respond.”

“July was the hottest month ever recorded in the contiguous U.S. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday, dramatically marking an already scorching summer,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The average temperature was 76.9 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest in the agency’s 132-year record and more than three degrees above the 20th-century average.”

“Another round of intense heat is expected to sweep across large swaths of Europe this week. Forecasters warned that rapidly rising temperatures, combined with persistently bone-dry conditions, could worsen a severe threat of wildfires,” the New York Times reports.

“The latest heat wave will be Europe’s fifth since May, as a broad area of high pressure — also known as a heat dome — intensifies across the continent. The most extreme heat is expected initially across parts of France, Spain and Italy before shifting toward Central Europe, where some of the highest temperatures are forecast across Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.”

Associated Press: Western Europe sets new temperature record as heat waves hit region.

“Conditions as hot, dry and windy as those leading up to the giant wildfires in France and Spain this week have become more likely in those countries since humans began warming the planet, according to a new analysis,” the New York Times reports.

“A team of scientists examined weather records to see how often the regions around Bordeaux, in southwest France, and Madrid have been as parched and primed to burn as they have been in the past few weeks. The researchers’ findings are the latest evidence that parts of Southern Europe should expect huge fires to become a recurring threat.”