DICKINSON, N.D. — Large swaths of southwest North Dakota are facing moderate fire danger, which may signal a returning drought.
Dunn, Billings, Slope, Hettinger and Stark Counties have already been designated as natural disaster counties by the United States Department of Agriculture after meeting requirements under earlier in the year, as each county suffered from drought conditions during the growing season lasting for eight or more consecutive weeks.
The National Weather Service in Bismarck said fire weather watches and red flag warnings are issued when there is an “enhanced risk” for fires to get out of control — something that may be a future possibility if the trend continues.
Representatives of the weather service said that a watch is typically issued a day or two ahead of time when they believe the conditions might be possible for a fire spreading.
The wildland fire assessment system, in collaboration with the federal land management agencies in North Dakota, identified most of western North Dakota as a moderate fire danger area.
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KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was on Friday told that the number of children that had died during 2018 in the desert region of Thar was highest in past four years.
He said that the deaths took place because of various reasons, including pre-term/low birth weight, birth asphyxia, severe pneumonia, neonatal sepsis, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), acute malnutrition with complication, sepsis (under five) and diarrhoea.
The CM has asked public-sector medical universities to set up camps in the desert region The chief minister said that despite making huge investment in every sector in Thar “we are still receiving news of infant and child deaths which is quite painful and depressing for me, therefore we have to make a holistic approach to resolve the issue for good”.
The meeting was attended by vice chancellors of different public and private sector universities, eight provincial ministers, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah and others.
167 dehs affected due to less rains The chief minister was told that 167 dehs of Tharparkar were affected on account of untimely and inadequate rainfall during monsoon season.
Some 116,713 families have received wheat till Oct 16,” the meeting was told.
The chief secretary informed the CM that some 850 RO plants would be made functional by December.
The chief minister was told that 726,602 animals had been vaccinated.
“Five goats and 10 hens are being distributed in each and every family in the remote areas and the programme would benefit 300 families.
He also directed the health department to establish a health information management system not only for Thar but for whole Sindh.

The rain is set to return this week but only in the form of light showers, the KNMI weather bureau said on Monday.
Monday itself will be largely sunny although there may be showers in the south.
Cloud will gather overnight and the rest of the week will be overcast, with temperatures around 14 degrees, the KNMI said.
Rain is more likely nationwide towards the end of the week.
Despite the showers since the end of September, the drought is still widespread in the Netherlands and the water level in the river Rhine has fallen to its lowest ever level – just 6.61 metres above NAP at the Lobith measuring station on the German border.
This has led to major problems for inland shipping companies which have been forced to cut the amount of goods carried by barges so they are not so low in the water.
Last week, three ships ran aground.
NAP stands for Normaal Amsterdams Peil or the normal water level in Amsterdam, which is slightly lower than sea level.
NAP is used as a base to measure how high or low water levels are.

A SOGGY weekend in some parts of the region has seen monthly rainfall totals exceeded for some locations.
The Central West and Central Tablelands may still be declared in drought by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, but recent rains have left many areas with a green tinge.
Rainfall was recorded in most locations on the weekend, with Mudgee receiving the most with 15.2 millimetres recorded across the two days.
In Wellington, 9.6mm of rain was recorded on the weekend, while Cowra received 8.0mm, Young (7.2mm) and Dubbo (6.6).
All other locations received less than two millimetres of rainfall on the weekend.
Story continues under weather radar The latest downpours have boosted the Bureau of Meteorology’s rain gauges in Dubbo, Forbes, Lithgow, Mudgee and Wellington, and all have now recorded above the long-term average falls for October.
Wellington has received the most rain this month with 94mm, which is significantly above the median of 55.7mm for October.
Dubbo and Lithgow have received 90.4mm, which is up on the average 45.6mm and 67.7mm received respectively.
While 68.6mm of rain has fallen in Forbes (up on the long-term average of 39.4mm) and 57.4mm in Mudgee which is up a little on the median of 50.9mm.
Mostly sunny weather is predicted for the region this working week.

A deadly drought in Afghanistan is causing a humanitarian crisis that has displaced more people this year than the war between the government and the Taliban.
Half of our children are here.
Mr Mohammed is one of an estimated 260,000 people who have been forced from their homes in northern and western Afghanistan because of a severe drought in the region.
But the UN says that this year, the drought has displaced more Afghans than even the conflict between the Taliban and the government.
The drought is adding to the misery of Afghans who are already suffering in the war Qadir Assemy from the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) is helping co-ordinate the relief effort in Herat, which has seen an influx of people fleeing their homes.
"It’s very challenging because of the scale of the disaster," he tells the BBC.
At present, the UNWFP is distributing money for people to buy food.
One woman sitting with four young children tells me she has recently arrived from the northern province of Faryab.
Others described being forced to sell their livestock or borrow money simply to survive.
Mr Assemy believes the cold weather is "a major concern" as it seems unlikely that the displaced people will be able to return to their homes in the coming months.

Residents of several villages in Iraq’s Dhi Qar province had to leave their homes this summer due to severe drought, according to a local official.
Speaking to reporters, Ali Raddad, governor of Dhi Qar’s Al-Islah district, said the entire populations of 25 agricultural villages had been forced to migrate over the summer “due to water scarcity”.
The mass migrations, he said, had had a negative impact on both public health and livestock breeding in the affected areas.
Iraq’s water reserves have fallen by some 4 billion cubic meters this year, with reserves currently standing at about 17 billion cubic meters, according to Iraq’s Water Resources Ministry.
“Despite the recent loss of about 4 billion cubic meters, there is still an abundance of drinking water,” Zafer Abdullah, an adviser at the ministry, told Anadolu Agency.
For years, Iraq has seen a steady decline in water emanating from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers due to lower-than-average rainfall during the winter season.
The decline has led Iraq’s Agriculture Ministry to reduce the amount of land under cultivation during the current winter season by 55 percent.
In June, the Iraqi authorities banned farmers from sowing eight summer crops — including rice, maize and cotton — ostensibly due to the water shortage.
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leaf Green GB Week British farmers are bracing for a high cost winter after the worst drought in a generation decimated harvests of livestock feed for the colder months, the farmers’ union has warned.
The extreme weather is set to compound the sector’s slide deeper into debt while the pressure to play a part in cutting greenhouse gas emissions mounts.
Agriculture accounts for 10pc of the UK’s total emissions, according to official data, but the sector takes a disproportionate brunt of their harmful effects.
The union has argued that it can reduce emissions and become more productive, if Government supports investment in new technology.
The worst drought since 1976 dealt a body blow to farmers during the crucial months in which the grass and grain used as livestock feed is grown ahead of the winter.
“Farmers are clear that their fathers and grandfathers experienced difficult weather and drought and floods, but we seem to be experiencing it on a more regular basis.
That makes farming more challenging,” Mr Smith said.
He warned against a rising reliance on imports from countries with lower environmental standards in a bid to reduce domestic emissions.
Technology has a key role to play in ensuring that farmers can decrease their carbon footprints without decreasing how much they produce, which would offer major economic benefits too.
Satellite-guided tractors, and robotics have increased the accuracy of field work to within a centimetre and heightened the precision of pesticide and fertilizer use.

The winter outlook in Western Washington continues to show higher-than-normal chances of warmer, with the possibility of drier conditions.
In the winter, a typical El Nino can lead to wetter-than-average rain in the south and drier and warmer conditions in the north.
"Although a weak El Nino is expected, it may still influence the winter season by bringing wetter conditions across the southern United States, and warmer, drier conditions to parts of the North," Halpert said.
There’s as much as a 75 percent higher chance that our winter will be warmer than normal in Western Washington.
There are equal chances for either a wetter, or drier winter.
NOAA says drought conditions are likely to persist, including some areas of the Pacific Northwest.
David Miskus with NOAA says the worst drought conditions in the Pacific Northwest are in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Drought improvements for areas from the Cascades and areas west to the coast are expected.
It’s less clear for Eastern Washington, but conditions aren’t as sever there as they are in Oregon, which are expected to improve in the coming months.
This means that while it may be an El Nino winter, we will still see periods of cold temperatures and snowfall.

BRYAN, Tex (KBTX) – Most Texans know the phrase, "Drought ends in flood.
Flood ends in drought."
For us, for now, the case is the former.
At least for almost all of us.
Save a tiny sliver in far West Texas and parts of the Panhandle, all of the state of Texas is considered out of drought with the newest update released this morning.
For now, we’ll see what we can do with more scattered rain chances over the next week, but the potential for flooding remains with saturated grounds here and across most of the Lonestar State.
For comparison: Here is this week’s #Drought Monitor (image on the left) vs that of: 1) last week 2) this time last month 3) early August pic.twitter.com/Z1FALdZsMR — Shel Winkley (@KBTXShel) October 18, 2018 Safe to say….#Texas has once again erased #Drought in a dramatic fashion.
This week’s #Drought Monitor shows very little issues other than out west & in the Panhandle pic.twitter.com/1rd6aQNZgU — Shel Winkley (@KBTXShel) October 18, 2018 Lake Travis just hit 701.55′, now the 5th highest level ever.
At its current rate of increase with no additional flood gates opening, it will climb to the number 4 spot by early Friday morning.
#atxwx #CBSAustinWX pic.twitter.com/OYOPfWYjXj — Avery Tomasco (@averytomascowx) October 18, 2018 Wixon Valley (NE Brazos County) since last Tuesday: • 10/9: 4.2" • 10/13: 5.0" • 10/14: 3.10" • 10/16: 5.5" Grand total for the past 8 days: 17.8" — Shel Winkley (@KBTXShel) October 17, 2018

AFGHANISTAN/Badghis: Sultana, 24, recently had to bury her youngest daughter, who froze to death in the Afghan desert.
They are farmers, but have long since sold off the livestock that would have provided them with food through the winter.
The youngest children die first.
"We fear that cold and hungry children will be hit by winter illnesses leading to entirely preventable deaths," warns Chris Nyamandi, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) country director in Afghanistan.
Now, Nazoo has lived for two years in a tented settlement in the northwestern province of Badghis.
Together with some tea or water, that’s the only thing she and her five children eat that day.
"Some people sold all their animals to buy food last winter and now have nothing to sell or use to feed themselves," says Qamar Gul (35), who is staying with her family in a displacement site in Badghis.
Water-borne diseases may become rife, and claim the lives of already malnourished, cold, displaced children.
"Better shelters must be built, and food stocks put in place, so families can survive the freezing months ahead.
Our work in the area NRC is mapping the needs, distributing emergency shelters and setting up latrines and water tanks to assist displaced Afghans in the region.