The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed 80 780 km² (31 190 mi²) of the southern High Plains under an Extremely Critical fire-weather outlook for Sunday, May 17, 2026, warning that dangerous wildfire spread conditions are expected across extreme eastern New Mexico, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, extreme southeastern Colorado, and far southwestern Kansas.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed parts of the Central Plains under an Enhanced Risk of severe thunderstorms on Saturday, May 16, 2026, and parts of the Central Plains and Upper Midwest under Enhanced Risk on Sunday, with large to very large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes forecast across the two-day period.
New activity/unrest was reported for 5 volcanoes from May 7 to 13, 2026. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 17 volcanoes.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 struck the Antigua and Barbuda region at 14:50 UTC on May 16, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 30 km (18.6 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 48 km (29.8 miles). According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), there is no tsunami threat from this event.
Exceptional drought (D4) has returned to parts of the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma for the first time since July 2023, according to the National Weather Service Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center (ABRFC). Drought conditions continue worsening across large parts of the Southern Plains following one of the driest and warmest starts to spring on record. Extreme Drought (D3) conditions are already affecting 36% of the Arkansas-Red Basin, while forecasters warned that very dry conditions are expected to persist across western portions of the region.
Dry lightning, severe outflow winds, single-digit to teen relative humidity, and receptive fuels created Critical fire weather conditions across parts of the Plains and southern High Plains on May 15, 2026.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed Iowa under an Enhanced Risk for severe thunderstorms late May 15, 2026, with severe/damaging winds and large to very large hail forecast late this afternoon and evening. Initial supercells may produce hail of 5 cm (2 inches) or larger before storms organize into clusters capable of localized wind gusts above 120 km/h (75 mph).
Blinding dust storms caused crashes on state highways 83 and 85 in North Dakota on May 14, 2026, while grass fires fueled by dry and windy conditions created dangerous travel conditons on the I-29 in Traill County.
Episode 47 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea ended at 00:27 HST (10:27 UTC) on May 15, 2026, after 9 hours of continuous lava fountaining from the north vent. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) said the eruption is paused and lowered Kīlauea to Volcano Alert Level Advisory and Aviation Color Code Yellow.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.7 hit near the east coast of Honshu, Japan at 11:22 UTC (20:22 LT) on May 15, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 44 km (27 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.7 at a depth of 40 km (25 miles). According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), there is no tsunami threat from this event.
