Hurricane Dolly was downgraded to a Category 1 storm after slamming into the South Texas coast Wednesday with punishing rain and winds of 100 mph that knocked out power to thousands.

Cool, moist weather and steady attacks by firefighters have brought the number of wildfires still burning in Northern California dramatically down.

A line of thunderstorms battered Iowa with winds of up to 100 mph early Monday, knocking down trees and power lines and blacking out more than 200,000 homes and businesses.

Tropical storm Kalmaegi churned along the Chinese coast Saturday, after leaving 13 dead in heavily populated Taiwan.

As common as lightning is, it still sparks considerable confusion among scientists.  Many of the basics are understood, but researchers admit they don't really understand how  lightning gets from there to here. And they're totally baffled by lightning's link to X-rays, a discovery made back in 2001.

The monsoon has gained official start and end dates in the United States ? June 15 and Sept. 30 ? a real season that meteorologists hope will put some oomph behind their warnings.