The last seven years have been the hottest on record globally "by a clear margin", the European Union's climate monitoring service reported Monday, as it raised the alarm over sharp increases in record concentrations of methane in the atmosphere.

Countries around the world have been blasted by a relentless assault of weather disasters linked to global warming in recent years, including record-shattering wildfires across Australia and Siberia, a once-in-1000-years heatwave in North America and extreme rainfall that caused massive flooding in Asia, Africa, the US and Europe.

With more bad weather looming, Virginia officials sought to reassure the public as they reacted to harsh criticism of their response to a snowstorm earlier this week that left hundreds of motorists stranded on Interstate 95 in frigid temperatures.

In contrast to his response to Monday's storm, Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency in advance of the wintry weather that is expected to move into the state late Thursday, and he asked the Virginia National Guard for assistance. The measures are necessary this time, his office said, because of the lingering effects of the first storm.

A team of scientists is sailing to "the place in the world that's the hardest to get to" so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica's ice.

Thirty-two scientists are starting a more than two-month mission aboard an American research ship to investigate the crucial area where the massive but melting Thwaites glacier faces the Amundsen Sea and may eventually lose large amounts of ice because of warm water. The Florida-sized glacier has gotten the nickname the "doomsday glacier" because of how much ice it has and how much seas could rise if it all melts — more than two feet (65 centimeters) over hundreds of years.

When Lisa Young evacuated her home as a fast-moving Colorado wildfire burned, it looked like firefighters were going to be able to stop what appeared then to just be a grass fire in a field behind her home. She just took her purse, turned off her slow cooker and television and made sure her two cats had enough food and water to drink, thinking she would be back home soon.

Later that night staying with relatives, she watched images of her home outside of Denver burning on television, her driveway recognizable because of her father's old Corvette on fire. Her house was one of nearly 1,000 destroyed in the blaze, leading her to fear that her calico cats, Joy and Noelle, 5-year-old sisters, died in the fire.

Twenty of Yellowstone National Park's renowned gray wolves roamed from the park and were shot by hunters in recent months — the most killed by hunting in a single season since the predators were reintroduced to the region more than 25 years ago, according to park officials.

Fifteen wolves were shot after roaming across the park's northern border into Montana, according to figures released to The Associated Press. Five more died in Idaho and Wyoming.

A sergeant in the Paraguayan presidential guard died after he was gored by a deer roaming the grounds of the presidential palace, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Beijing's air pollution is far below acceptable World Health Organization levels with the Chinese capital a month away from hosting the Winter Olympics –- but environmental data shows its skies have improved dramatically in recent years.

Thousands marched Tuesday along the beaches of Argentina's Mar del Plata to protest an oil exploration project off the Atlantic coast.

Ecuador on Tuesday warned would-be wild animal eaters of possible prison time and Colombia launched an investigation after a competitive cooking TV show featured shark, alligator and capybara as ingredients. 

Nearly two-thirds of all new car registrations in Norway in 2021 were electric vehicles (EVs), an industry body said Monday, a figure unmatched in the world.