The termination letters that ended the careers of thousands of U.S. Forest Service employees mean fewer people and less resources will be available to help prevent and fight wildfires, raising the specter of even more destructive blazes across the American West, fired workers and officials said.

The Forest Service firings — on the heels of deadly blazes that ripped through Los Angeles last month — are part of a wave of federal worker layoffs, as President Donald Trump's cost-cutting measures reverberate nationwide.

Climate change is accelerating the melting of the world's mountain glaciers, according to a massive new study that found them shrinking more than twice as fast as in the early 2000s.

The world's glaciers lost ice at the rate of about 255 billion tons (231 billion metric tons) annual from 2000 to 2011, but that quickened to about 346 billion tons (314 billion metric tons) annually over about the next decade, according to the study in this week's journal Nature.

The polar vortex hit its peak across much of America on Wednesday, with an icy grip that made Arctic Greenland seem like a toasty vacation spot in comparison. Even Mars has been warmer than North Dakota this week.

But there's hope. Some of the coldest parts of the United States are forecast to see as much as a 90-degree warmup early next week, before the expected return of yet another polar plunge of freezing air the first week in March, meteorologists said.

The European Union's executive on Wednesday heeded the call of activist agricultural organizations and the complaints of hard-right parties by proposing a vision for the future of farming and food production that aims to cut deep into the complicated rules designed to protect the environment.

The blueprint, which seek to better protect local production from what is seen as unfair global competition, come after a year which saw protests by disgruntled farmers using tractors to paralyze many European capitals as part of a campaign lionized by the far right in the runup to their successful showing in EU-wide elections last June.

A wintry gust of wind raises hopes that the giant sails of a centuries-old windmill near Amsterdam will start turning. On the mill's cutting floor, six blades briefly rise and fall, sawing into a rough-hewn plank.

But the wind drops and the mill's sails and saws grind to a halt.

By Paul Bierman, University of Vermont

Since Donald Trump regained the presidency, he has coveted Greenland. Trump has insisted that the U.S. will control the island, currently an autonomous territory of Denmark, and if his overtures are rejected, perhaps seize Greenland by force.

At least nine people have died in the most recent round of harsh weather to pummel the U.S., including eight people in Kentucky who died as creeks swelled from heavy rain and water covered roads.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday that hundreds of people stranded by flooding had to be rescued. President Donald Trump approved the state's request for a disaster declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts throughout the state.

Harsh weather moved west on Monday as a polar vortex was expected to grip the Rockies and the northern Plains after winter storms pummeled the eastern U.S. over the weekend, killing at least 10 people, including nine victims in Kentucky who died during flooding from heavy rains.

The National Weather Service warned of "life-threatening cold" into Tuesday, with temperatures in northeastern Montana predicted to dip as low as 45 degrees below zero (-42.7 degrees Celsius) with wind chills down to 60 below (-51 degrees Celsius).

Snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to continue pummeling the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states Wednesday, while California readied for a storm that could flood areas ravaged by the recent wildfires.

Especially heavy snowfall — up to nearly 14 inches (25 centimeters) — was expected in parts of Virginia and West Virginia, according to the National Weather Service. Ice accumulations could reach more than a third of an inch (8.4 millimeters) in Stanleytown, Virginia, and a quarter of an inch (6.3 millimeters) in Glendale Springs, North Carolina.

Saving the planet is so 2024. Clean energy leaders across the globe are now tailoring their messages to emphasize the greener side of green: wealth-building. It's an idea that sells far better in the new world of nationalism and tycoon leaders.

Messaging from the U.S. renewable energy industry and the United Nations on climate change has typically focused on the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of environmental and human health. To bolster the argument, they cite record-shattering heat around the world, the frequent climate disasters costing billions of dollars and the human toll of it all.