Wild week of US weather includes heat wave, tropical storm, landslide, flash flood and snow

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — It's been a wild week of weather in many parts of the United States, from heat waves to snowstorms to flash floods.

Here's a look at some of the weather events:

Millions of people in the Midwest have been enduring dangerous heat and humidity.

An emergency medicine physician treating Minnesota State Fair-goers for heat illnesses saw firefighters cut rings off two people's swollen fingers Monday in hot weather that combined with humidity made it feel well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius).

Soaring late summer temperatures also prompted some Midwestern schools to let out early or cancel sports practices. The National Weather Service issued heat warnings or advisories across Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Several cities including Chicago opened cooling centers.

Forecasters said Tuesday also will be scorching hot for areas of the Midwest before the heat wave shifts to the south and east.

An unusually cold storm on the mountain peaks along the West Coast late last week brought a hint of winter in August. The system dropped out of the Gulf of Alaska, down through the Pacific Northwest and into California. Mount Rainier, southeast of Seattle, got a high-elevation dusting, as did central Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor resort.

Mount Shasta, the Cascade Range volcano that rises to 14,163 feet (4,317 meters) above far northern California, wore a white blanket after the storm clouds passed. The mountain’s Helen Lake, which sits at 10,400 feet (3,170 meters) received about half a foot of snow (15 centimeters), and there were greater amounts at higher elevations, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Shasta Ranger Station.

Three tropical cyclones swirled over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, including Tropical Storm Hone, which brought heavy rain to Hawaii; Hurricane Gilma, which weakened to a tropical storm on Tuesday; and Tropical Storm Hector, which was churning westward, far off the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico.

The biggest impacts from Tropical Storm Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) were rainfall and flash floods that resulted in road closures, downed power lines and damaged trees in some areas of the Big Island, said William Ahue, a forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. No injuries or major damage had been reported, authorities said.

A landslide that cut a path down a steep, thickly forested hillside crashed into several homes in Ketchikan, Alaska, in the latest such disaster to strike the mountainous region. Sunday’s slide killed one person and injured three others and prompted the mandatory evacuation of nearby homes in the city, a popular cruise ship stop along the famed Inside Passage in the southeastern Alaska panhandle.

The slide area remained unstable Monday, and authorities said that state and local geologists were arriving to assess the area for potential secondary slides. Last November, six people — including a family of five — were killed when a landslide destroyed two homes in Wrangell, north of Ketchikan.

The body of an Arizona woman who disappeared in Grand Canyon National Park after a flash flood was recovered Sunday, park rangers said. The body of Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was discovered by a group rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, the park said in a statement.

Nickerson was hiking along Havasu Creek about a half-mile (800 meters) from where it meets up with the Colorado River when the flash flood struck. Nickerson’s husband was among the more than 100 people safely evacuated.

The flood trapped several hikers in the area above and below Beaver Falls, one of a series of usually blue-green waterfalls that draw tourists from around the world to the Havasupai Tribe’s reservation. The area is prone to flooding that turns its iconic waterfalls chocolate brown.

Construction workers start their day as the sun rises on the new Republic Airlines headquarters building in Carmel, Ind., Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

This image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Hone as it continues to track to the west toward the Hawaiian Islands, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via AP)

A worker is diffused by heat vapors while marking pavement on a street construction project as temperatures topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Lenexa, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

A coat of snow covers ski lifts on Mount Bachelor Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Bend, Ore. (Garrett Lockrem/Mount Bachelor Ski Resort via AP)

The aftermath of a deadly landslide is seen in Ketchikan, Alaska, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (Anna Laffrey/Ketchikan Daily News via AP)

U.S. Army soldiers of the Arizona National Guard guide tourists trapped by flash flooding into a UH-60 Blackhawk, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, on the Havasupai Reservation in Supai, Ariz. (Maj. Erin Hannigan/U.S. Army via AP)

Judah Boyle, of Des Moines, Iowa, splashes water as he runs on the beach at Gray's Lake Park, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen has announced she will not play at the United Cup mixed-teams tournament starting later this month, opting instead to focus on preparations for the 2025 season’s first Grand Slam.

In a breakthrough season for the 22-year-old, Zheng made the Australian Open final in January— where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka — before clinching gold at the Paris Olympics and finished runner-up at the WTA Finals to end the year ranked at No. 5.

She was due to represent China at the United Cup starting Dec. 27, but shared her decision to withdraw on social media on Sunday.

“After the long season that 2024 was for me, I need a few extra weeks of rest, recovery, and good training to get ready for the new season,” she said. “I had such a fantastic time at the United Cup in January of this year, and therefore will miss the event greatly.

“Still, I’m so excited to be back in Australia soon and I will see you all in Melbourne in a couple of weeks.”

Zheng’s absence means world No. 175 Gao Xinyu will be China’s top-ranked female player at the United Cup. World No. 45 Zhang Zhizhen will lead the men’s lineup for China as they face Brazil in Perth, Australia on Friday.

The Australian Open begins on Jan. 12.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

FILE - China's Zheng Qinwen gestures after defeating Sofia Kenin of the United States in the final match of the Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)