Rebecca Herscher

FEMA supports state and local governments when hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters happen.

With its parent agency shut down, FEMA will still be able to respond to emergencies because there's still a pot of money for immediate disaster response.

But places that got hit by wildfires or floods in the last few years and are waiting for FEMA reimbursements may have to wait even longer, FEMA leaders warn.

That's because there won't be money to pay all of FEMA's workers.

Such delays will not be new, however.

Unrelated to this shutdown, the Trump administration has withheld billions of dollars of disaster-related grants for states and is currently moving to cut thousands of jobs at the agency.

Windchill is basically how cold it feels outside when you combine the air temperature with wind.

It can cause frostbite and hypothermia.

Dressing warmly can help protect people from windchill conditions.

That includes covering all exposed skin, says Jessica Lee from the National Weather Service.

People who work outside or don't have reliable housing are at particular risk in severe wind chill conditions.

Rebecca Herscher, NPR News.

Record high temperatures in Australia earlier this month contributed to massive wildfires in the eastern part of the country.

That's according to a new report from the European Union's Copernicus Weather Service.

Those fires killed one person and burned at least 900 buildings.

The fires also released an enormous amount of smoke into the atmosphere, degrading the air quality around the city of Melbourne.

The smoke plume was so large that scientists tracked it all the way to South America, and smoke particulates were detected at high altitude in the atmosphere.

Climate change is causing more intense and more frequent heat waves, which makes such fires more likely around the world.

Rebecca Herscher, NPR News.

Record-high temperatures in Australia earlier this month contributed to massive wildfires in the eastern part of the country.