Located at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Hat Creek, California, the Allen Telescope Array is caught in the middle of two wildfires. The Eiler and the Bald fires, sparked last week, together have torched more than 100 square miles of Northern California. They are just two of more than a dozen fires that began in the state last week when excessive lightning met the drought-dry underbrush.

Averaged nationally, 2013 was a comparatively calm weather and climate year in the United States. There were fewer than 900 tornados, the least since 1989. The number of North Atlantic hurricanes was below average. Temperatures were only 0.3 degreesabove those of the 20thcentury average, tying with 1980 for 37thwarmest year in 119 years of record-keeping,and two to threedegrees cooler than 2012, the hottest year on record.

It’s that time of year, when the world falls in love with bats, snakes, spiders and other eek creatures for a few days. So let's celebrate Eek Week! As eek decor reaches critical mass, it’s a good time to learn more about these creatures and why you can see them as helpful and cool, not scary and gross.

Do you have a special talent for reading scribbled handwriting and an interest in looking at dead bugs?

Ninety-five percent of the ethanol fuel produced in the U.S. comes from corn, but one central California town is giving another sweet crop a try. Twelve farmers in Five Points, Calif., have received a $5 million state grant to build a plant that turns sugar beets into fuel, the Associated Press reports.

A weather balloon built and powered by amateur radio balloon enthusiasts made an epic three-day journey from California to the Mediterranean, splashing down after it apparently burst somewhere off the Algerian coast. The transcontinental transatlantic flight covered a record-shattering 10,036 kms.