Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon ‘Megafire’ Explodes in Size and Is Now Creating Its Own Weather

The Dragon Bravo wildfire has been burning for over a month, and U.S. firefighting agencies are too understaffed to stop it.

A Meteor Impact May Have Caused a Giant Landslide in the Grand Canyon

A new study suggests ancient wood floated into a cave far above the Colorado River when a meteorite-induced earthquake triggered a landslide, a dam, and an ancient lake.

Grand Canyon Museumgoers Exposed to Uranium for Years, Safety Manager Claims

Earlier this month, a National Park Service safety manager sent a “rogue” email alleging the improper storing of radioactive material at a Grand Canyon facility frequented by children, the Arizona Republic reports. According to safety, health, and wellness manager Elston “Swede” Stephenson, three 5-gallon containers of uranium ore were kept near a taxidermy exhibit at…

Watch the Grand Canyon Fill With Clouds in This Timelapse of a Rare Weather Phenomenon

Clouds form when warm, humid air rises into the cooler atmosphere, and all that water vapor condenses into tiny floating water droplets. But sometimes that process can be inverted, like when cold air trapped in the Grand Canyon causes it to fill with clouds as warm air passes over the massive gorge. And sometimes, that…

Court Upholds Obama’s Grand Canyon Uranium Mining Ban

An appeals court ruled Tuesday that a 20-year ban on new uranium mining along the Grand Canyon will remain. The ban was first introduced by the Department of Interior in 2012 under former President Barack Obama and then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. It placed protections upon more than one million acres of land surrounding the Grand…

The Trump Administration Wants to Mine the Grand Canyon Because Why Not

Last month, the U.S. Forest Service recommended to President Donald Trump that he re-open lands outside the Grand Canyon to uranium mining, just five years after former President Barack Obama introduced a 20-year ban on new uranium mining on roughly one million acres of surrounding public lands. Obama’s ban allowed a handful of mines that…

The Colorado River is a Blue Ribbon in the Desert When Seen From the ISS

Tim Peake snapped an amazing picture of the Grand Canyon earlier today as the International Space Station passed overhead. The Colorado River is a blue ribbon in the middle of a desert. As Peake points out, the sense of scale with this feature is incredible, especially when you realize how deep the Canyon is, and…

Here’s What a New Year’s Snow Fall Looks Like at the Grand Canyon

This photo from the Grand Canyon National Park Service shows what the park looked like on January 1, 2015. Snow blanketed the whole thing, with clouds promising another dusting. Image credit: The Grand Canyon National Park Service

It’s Snowing in the Grand Canyon Right Now, and It Looks Beautiful

Thanks to the wonderful Twitter feed from the park rangers at the Grand Canyon National Park, we have this incredible shot of a light dusting of snow that fell over the Grand Canyon today.

The Grand Canyon Looks Creepy When Filled With Fog

December 11 was a weird day at the Grand Canyon. This image, captured by Maci MacPherson with the National Park Service, looks like some alien cloud world and definitely not arid Arizona, but in a rare weather display, low-lying clouds nearly filled the entire Grand Canyon. This event is actually supposed to be extremely rare.…

The Grand Canyon Is Full Of Clouds Right Now. Why?

This view may look like it shows the view from high above the clouds, but what you’re seeing is actually the ground-level view of what it looks like to look over the Grand Canyon right now. And it’s not just in one spot. Here are some more views of the upside-down sight that greeted visitors…

Each Year, 250 Hikers Have To Be Rescued From the Grand Canyon. Why?

The hike down into the Grand Canyon is a rewarding one, full of gorgeous views. It’s also, however, a treacherous hike with 250 of the people who attempt the route eventually needing rescue from the National Parks Service annually. Just what makes it so dangerous? Commenter eregyrn summed up some of the treacherous conditions that…

The Grand Canyon Faces Gravest Threat in the Park’s 95-Year History

Developers want to put gondolas, hotels and shops in and around the Grand Canyon, in what the National Park Service has called the “most serious threat the park has faced in its 95-year history.” Above: A panorama of the Grand Canyon from the South Rim, from which proposed developments would be visible | Photo Credit:…

You’ve Been Looking At The Grand Canyon Wrong

It’s tempting, when one visits Grand Canyon National Park, to focus attention on the mammoth hole in the ground (both for safety and for gawking purposes). This timelapse, though, makes a pretty good argument in favor of looking up. The timelapse is the work of Gavin Heffernan (a.k.a. Sunchaser Pictures). The shots were taken at…

What If You Piled Every Human On Earth Into The Grand Canyon?

There are more than seven billion human beings living on Earth. That sounds like a lot until you imagine all of them sitting in a pile in the Grand Canyon. Vsauce created this “species portrait” as part of their latest episode, “How Many Things Are There?” It also informs us that each of us will…

A 1956 Plane Crash in the Grand Canyon Made Flying Safer for Americans

In 1956 two planes collided over the Arizona desert, killing all 128 people on board and scattering the debris deep inside the Grand Canyon. This week, the National Park Service designated the crash site a National Historic Landmark—even though they don’t actually want you to go visit it. At the time, the tragedy was the…

This is what America’s most famous pit—the Grand Canyon—looks like from the International Space Station. A winding craggy oasis in the middle of the desert. [NASA]

Antarctic Ice Is Hiding a Super-Trench Way Deeper Than the Grand Canyon

The ice sheet that covers Antarctica is ancient, hiding a whole landscape of mountains and valleys that once teemed with life. Using radar and satellite footage, scientists are studying this hidden world—and they just found a two-mile-deep canyon down there. A new paper in the January issue of the Geological Society of America Bulletin describes…

Grand Canyon completely flooded by clouds in “once-in-a-lifetime” event

You’re looking at the Grand Canyon completely flooded by clouds, “a once in a lifetime event,” according to park ranger Erin Whittaker. It didn’t only happen once, she says, but two times in only three days: The canyon gave us a second rare inversion in three days. Freezing fog dominated yesterday … by the end…

A rare event turns the Grand Canyon into Cloud City

Over the weekend, rare atmospheric conditions gave rise to an even rarer scene: The Grand Canyon – that vast, gaping wonder of the natural world – filled to the brim with cold, dense, roiling fog. National Park officials have called the sight a “once in a lifetime” event. Looking at these photos, it’s not hard…