Death Valley National Park closed Sunday as torrential rains from Tropical Storm Hilary pummeled the park, spurring flash floods that were undercutting roads and prompting park officials to urge anyone still in the park to "turn around, don't drown." Mojave National Preserve, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and Joshua Tree National Park all had closed a day earlier because of the historic storm.

Last month a "Volcano Watch" article discussed the bicentennial of the first visit of Westerners to Kīlauea caldera, led by English missionary William Ellis, in 1823. Ellis did not just visit the summit region; he had approached from Kaʻū, traveling along what eventually became known as Kīlauea’s Southwest Rift Zone. Ellis first witnessed evidence of Kīlauea’s restlessness there, in the form of a vast, 4.8-square-mile (12.5 square-kilometer) lava flow that had erupted just a short time before.

Six armed Vikings perched on a wooden platform atop a rocky hill at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland, all but one facing southeast to symbolize how this place was once a base camp for Norse explorations.

A ban on wood and charcoal fires took effect in Olympic National Park on Friday due to heightened fire danger.