Authorities had feared the first hurricane to hit the U.S. since last September could produce up to 20 inches of rain in some areas, possibly breaching levees in the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.

Nearly one-fourth of people in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina would refuse to evacuate for a storm if told to, a survey released Wednesday by Harvard University found.

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.