onEarth: The ground in the Midwest during a typical winter is cold and dry. But with runners jogging in shorts along Lake Michigan just two days before Christmas, this is no typical winter. In fact, this past December was the hottest ever recorded in the Midwest, and the land in the countrys center was warm and wet.
As 2015 (which is expected to be declared the warmest year on record) came to a close, heavy rainfall washed across already saturated ground and went straight into the Mississippi River, which...