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(NEW YORK) — Scientists have gathered further evidence that ocean waters are continuing to warm along with the rest of the planet.

Ocean temperatures reached record-breaking highs for the month of May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced during its monthly climate call on Thursday.

Four main factors are contributing to such historic warming of global sea surface temperatures: human-induced climate change, a developing El Nino event, effects from the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption and a new shipping emissions policy aimed at reducing air pollution, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Some regions are experiencing temperatures up to 7 degrees higher than average for this time of year. In Cabo Verde Island, where hurricanes typically form, the water is typically 75 degrees Fahrenheit but is currently measuring at 82.4 degrees.

Combined, land and ocean temperatures in May were the third warmest on record, with surface temperatures increasing about 0.97 degrees Celsius, or 1.75 degrees Fahrenheit, above the 20th century average, Rocky Bilotta, climatologist for the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, told reporters.

Temperatures were above average throughout most of North America, South America and Africa. Parts of Western Europe, Northwestern Russia, Southeast Asia and the Arctic also experienced warmer than average temperatures this month, Bilotta said.

In the contiguous United States, May temperatures averaged 62.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 2.2 degrees above the average for that time of year, Bilotta said.

The warmest global record for the time period between March and May was also reached, according to NOAA.

2023 is very likely to rank among the 10 warmest years on record, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information statistical analysis that was released in April. Should warmer ocean and air surface temperatures continue, 2023 could become the warmest year on record.

Scientists anticipate that the current high temperatures could increase in the coming weeks and set record-shattering numbers, which could spell disaster for coastal communities all over the world.

Warmer ocean waters can contribute to more powerful tropical storms and impact marine life. In addition, a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and can increase potential flooding events. Melting sea ice in the Arctic is also causing sea levels to rise, which is eroding coastlines.

Earlier this week, thousands of fish washed up at the Quintana Beach County Park on Texas’ Gulf Coast, likely due to warming waters, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Kills and Spills team.

“Fish kills like this are common in the summer when temperatures increase,” the department said in a statement. “If there isn’t enough oxygen in the water, fish can’t ‘breathe.’ Low dissolved oxygen in many cases is a natural occurrence.”

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(HARTFORD, Conn.) — Zaid Deje Langs-Myers, an 18-year-old University of Connecticut student, was shot and killed in Hartford, Tuesday night, according to police.

Hartford Police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash only to find Langs-Myers suffering from gunshot wounds outside the vehicle.

According to police, he was pronounced dead after being transported to a nearby hospital by Hartford Fire and officers.

Police were able to determine that the shooting occurred at a different location than where Langs-Myers was found.

No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting.

The Hartford Police Major Crimes and Crime Scene Divisions is investigating.

“The UConn community is deeply shocked and grief stricken by this tragic loss and our thoughts are with Zaid’s family and friends,” UConn said in a statement to ABC News.

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(NEW YORK) — A destructive tornado ripped through Perryton, Texas, Thursday evening, leaving at least three people dead, two missing and 56 injured, according to the The Ochiltree County Sherriff’s Office.

Perryton Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said the number of injured may be around 100 people. The injuries range from minor to severe and multiple patients have be transferred to trauma centers, Dutcher said.

The north and east sides of the small town saw significant damage, with trailer houses destroyed and communication towers downed, Dutcher told ABC News. One fatality has been confirmed and more than 75 people were being treated at the local hospital, he said.

Dutcher said that the confirmed death is from a trailer home and multiple agencies are on scene responding to the tornado.

There is currently no power to Perryton, Xcel Energy told ABC News.

“Our crews are arriving on site and are assisting in removing lines from cars and across the roads. We are patrolling the transmission feeds into the city and also assessing possible damage at the main substation in town. One of the three main transmission feeds into the city was apparently undamaged, but we deenergized it for safety reasons,” Xcel Energy said in a statement.

Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to deploy state emergency response resources to meet urgent life-safety needs in Perryton.

“The State of Texas is swiftly deploying critical emergency response resources to provide all necessary support and assistance to protect Texans and help those impacted by tornadoes in Perryton,” Abbott said in a statement. “I encourage all Texans to heed the guidance of state and local officials and to take all necessary precautions to protect yourselves and your loved ones. We remain ready to quickly provide any additional resources needed over the course of this severe weather event.”

Ochiltree General Hospital, the area hospital, is currently without power, an official said Thursday evening.

Debbie Beck, CFO of Ochiltree General Hospital, confirmed to ABC News that they have treated 50 to 100 patients related to tornado injuries.

Beck said that the hospital was out of power, and they don’t have an exact number of patients from the tornado as they are doing paperwork manually. No victims died at the hospital and some patients were transferred to Northwest Texas Hospital, according to Beck.

There have been seven reported tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma, and Michigan as of Thursday evening.

Severe thunderstorm watches have been issued in Brunswick, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; eastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi.

Georgia and Alabama are also getting slammed with heavy rain and flooding. More than 7 inches of rain hit Albany, Georgia, over the last 24 hours.

This comes after Wednesday storms brought massive hail and powerful winds to Mississippi and at least 10 reported tornadoes to Texas, Alabama and Georgia.

The Plains are also bracing for rough weather, with a severe thunderstorm watch issued in parts of southeastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas. Residents in the region should expect dangerous winds up to 80 mph, hail up to 4 inches in diameter and possible tornadoes.

More storms are expected Friday from Colorado to the Gulf Coast, with damaging winds and hail the main threat. Severe storms are also possible Friday afternoon and evening from Virginia to New Jersey.

Meanwhile, dangerous, triple-digit heat is baking the South. Record-high temperatures are possible over the next few days in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and New Orleans.

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(WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y.) — The district attorney in Westchester County, New York, has closed a two-year investigation into former President Donald Trump without filing criminal charges, her office confirmed Thursday.

District Attorney Miriam Rocah had been investigating whether Trump National Golf Club Westchester had tried to inappropriately lower its tax burden in the Town of Ossining.

“The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office conducted an investigation regarding certain properties owned by Donald J. Trump and/or the Trump Organization located in Westchester County, New York,” read a statement from the office. “Our investigation is now closed. We approached this investigation as we do all of our investigations, objectively, and independent of politics, party affiliation and personal or political beliefs.”

Trump responded to the news on his Truth Social platform, writing that closing the probe “WAS THE HONORABLE THING TO DO IN THAT I DID NOTHING WRONG, BUT WHERE AND WHEN DO I GET MY REPUTATION BACK?”

The probe was an offshoot of other investigations by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the New York state attorney general’s office into how Trump has valued his real estate holdings.

New York AG Letitia James sued Trump last September, accusing him, his eldest children, the Trump Organization and some of its executives of scheming for more than a decade to manipulate Trump’s net worth and the value of his real estate holdings in order to receive more favorable terms on loans, taxes and insurance.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has called James, who is black, “racist” and her lawsuit “ridiculous.”

That suit is scheduled to go to trial in October.

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(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — A Charlotte, North Carolina, teacher is suing the charter school he used to work at after he claims he was fired after parents allegedly complained about him teaching a fictional book involving a racially profiled Black teen.

Markayle Gray, a former English teacher at Charlotte Secondary School, claims in a civil lawsuit that was filed on Wednesday that he was terminated from his position as a 7th and 8th-grade teacher on Feb. 2 following backlash from parents over his teaching of the 2017 young adult novel “Dear Martin.”

The 2017 New York Times bestselling novel by Nic Stone follows the story of a Black teenager who was thrown to the ground and handcuffed during an encounter with police. The Ivy League-bound teen writes 10 imaginary letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. imagining what the civil rights leader would have done in his position.

Gray contends that he got permission from the school to teach the book, however in January white parents complained about that book claiming it “was divisive and injected what they regarded as unwelcome political views on systemic racial inequality into their children’s classroom,” according to the lawsuit.

“Mr. Gray was never given a written explanation of why he was being terminated and never given a detailed explanation,” Artur Davis, Gray’s attorney, told ABC News. “But there was a reference to complaints about this book being taught, and that was the end of it.”

North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

ABC News reached out to the school and principal Keisha Rock, who referred all questions to attorneys representing the school.

“Since this is a personnel matter, we are limited in what we can say about the reasons for Mr. Gray’s termination,” attorney Katie Weaver Hartzog told ABC News in a statement. “However, I can say that the termination of Mr. Gray’s employment was based on legitimate, nondiscriminatory, non-retaliatory reasons. The school denies any and all allegations of wrongdoing and intends to vigorously defend the suit.”

“Dear Martin” has been banned in other school districts, including one in Augusta, Georgia, over similar complaints.

Davis claimed that ahead of Black History Month, Gray had a “very intentional conversation” with Rock about what would be an “appropriate curriculum” and that she “specifically said to Mr. Gray that [“Dear Martin”] would be a good book to teach.”

Davis said that Gray assigned the book for students to read in January and intended to include it in his lessons during Black History Month in February.

Gray had been on personal leave for a week before his firing and had not been made aware of any concerns about his performance or of complaints before he was fired, according to Davis.

Davis said that Gray was informed of his firing during a “short meeting” with Rock, where she referenced alleged complaints from parents.

The lawsuit claims the school did not follow its protocols for termination, including terminating an employee mid-year “without a history of corrective action and without any evidence of school policies being violated by the teacher.”

Gray is seeking back pay, front pay, lost benefits and other relief, according to the lawsuit.

Since his termination, Davis said that Gray has had to switch professions and is now working in real estate because his firing in the middle of the school year “has reputationally been very damaging.”

“He now has this stigma that frankly, until there’s a lawsuit, most people didn’t know what happened to him,” Davis said.

Davis said that Gray began his teaching contract at Charlotte Secondary School in the fall and as a Black man, he was drawn to the diversity of the school and its mission to “empower” young people.

“He went into this profession because he was motivated by the idea of inspiring Black teenagers,” Davis said.

“He felt a sense of mission, a sense of calling around working with these young people,” he added.

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(DENVER) — Two men were hurt in an apparently targeted shooting on Thursday as revelers left downtown Denver following a parade for the Denver Nuggets, who won their first NBA title on Monday night.

The two men were hospitalized in serious condition, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said at a news conference.

Thomas stressed that the shooting is not linked to the parade, describing the shooting as people “armed with weapons, acting irresponsibly.”

Brittany Gioso told ABC News she was on her way home from the parade with a group including her mom when she saw a man a few feet away pull out a gun.

She said she heard three shots and “ran and tried to take cover.”

Gioso, a nurse, said her thought was, “Please don’t shoot me in the back.”

“It’s just so sad,” she said. “Immediately you just want to call your friends and your family … and tell them you’re OK.”

Her mom, Michelle Gioso, said through tears, “We were in a big group and I didn’t know where she was at, I didn’t know she was safe.”

About one hour before the shooting, a Denver police sergeant working at the parade was struck by a firetruck, suffering a significant leg injury, police said.

The sergeant was at the front of the firetruck trying to protect the public from the vehicle when the truck rolled and trapped his leg, the chief said.

The sergeant is now undergoing surgery, the chief said.

On Monday night, 10 people were shot in one of the main areas where crowds were gathered in Denver to celebrate the Nuggets’ victory, police said. All injuries were non-life-threatening.

The shooting stemmed from a drug deal, authorities said, and two suspects were taken into custody.

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(NEW YORK) — Jack Teixeira, the member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard accused of leaking classified documents online, has been indicted by a federal grand jury.

He is facing six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relation to the national defense, according to the Justice Department.

Teixeira, 21, is accused of abusing his security clearance to take classified documents and post them on social media sites, according to the Department of Justice.

“The unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified information jeopardizes our nation’s security. Individuals granted access to classified materials have a fundamental duty to safeguard the information for the safety of the United States, our active service members, its citizens and its allies,” acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring that those entrusted with sensitive national security information adhere to the law.”

Each of the charges calls for up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

Michael Bachrach, an attorney for Teixeira, declined ABC News’ request to comment on the indictment. A spokeswoman for the Teixeira family also declined to comment.

Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard on Sept. 26, 2019, according to his service record, and had Top Secret security clearance since 2021, according to the DOJ. He began posting classified documents online in January 2022, according to the Justice Department.

In April, the FBI interviewed a member of a social media chat room where Teixeira allegedly posted classified documents. The member reportedly told the FBI that the person began posting “what appeared to be classified information” around December and described the poster as someone named Jack who appeared to live in Massachusetts and “claimed that he was in the United States Air National Guard,” the original criminal complaint stated.

“As laid out in the indictment, Jack Teixeira was entrusted by the United States government with access to classified national defense information — including information that reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if shared,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “Teixeira is charged with sharing information with users on a social media platform he knew were not entitled to receive it. In doing so, he is alleged to have violated U.S. law and endangered our national security.”

Last month, Teixeira was ordered to remain in custody during a hearing that saw prosecutors allege he was a flight risk, even comparing him to notorious leaker Edward Snowden.

“I am going to grant the government’s motion for detention on each ground,” Judge David Hennessy told the court. “What the record at this point shows is a profound breach.”

The defense had argued Teixeira has cooperated with the investigation, did not intend for the classified information to be widely disseminated and was willing to stay with his parents, who promised to turn him in if he violated bail conditions.

ABC News’ Miles Cohen contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Poor air quality stemming from the wildfires in Canada is continuing to affect large swaths of the U.S.

The National Weather Service has issued air quality alerts in five Midwestern states on Thursday as hundreds of wildfires continue to burn in several regions throughout Canada.

Minnesota and Wisconsin were under air quality alerts on Thursday, as well as parts of Kansas, Missouri and Illinois.

Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, experienced the cities’ worst air quality on record since 1980 with a “Code Purple” on the Air Quality Index. The AQI was 234 in Minnesota and 271 in St. Paul, meaning “very unhealthy” for all populations.

Photos taken from the Twin Cities on Wednesday and Thursday show a skyline nearly obscured by a thick haze of smoke.

That smoke is expected to spread toward Detroit and Indianapolis on Friday.

That particular intense plume of smoke is currently not expected to spread into the Northeast. However, there is potential for another round of intense wildfire smoke from Quebec and Ontario to return to the northeastern U.S. next week, depending on whether atmospheric conditions drag the smoke south.

Air quality concerns will likely continue in the U.S. through the summer due to Canada’s wildfires, which are forecast to persist for months.

Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the start of the country’s wildfire season as “unprecedented.” The warm and dry conditions will likely lead to “higher-than-normal fire activity across most of the country throughout the 2023 season,” according to fire season outlook issued by the Canadian government last week.

There are currently 451 active wildfires burning in Canada, with more than 5.4 million acres burned, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Nearly 220 of the active fires have been deemed out of control, fire officials said.

For weeks, the smoke from wildfires in different regions in Canada has been making its way south to the U.S. In May, air quality alerts were issued in Montana, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona due to wildfires burning in Alberta.

A cold front that swept across northern Canada on May 15 carried very little precipitation and aggravated several large fires, Jeremy Wolf, climate program leader, for the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Spokane, Washington, said Thursday during the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’ monthly climate call.

As the winds behind that front shifted north on May 16, as all the fires became very active, the winds started to push the wildfire smoke south, especially east of the Rocky Mountains, Wolf said.

By May 31, smoke from wildfires burning on the other side of the country, in Nova Scotia, led to the first stretch of air quality alerts in the U.S. northeast.

Last week, major cities in the U.S. northeast were breaking records for deteriorating air quality due to wildfires burning in Quebec — with New York City reaching 484, nearing highest end of “hazardous” AQI ratings at 500.

The AQI in places like India and China are around 150 on any given day, according to IQAir, a website that publishes air quality data around the world.

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(NEW YORK) — More severe weather is slamming the U.S. on Thursday, with residents from Florida to Kansas bracing for impact.

The states in the bull’s-eye are Kansas and Oklahoma, where extreme winds, huge hail and a few tornadoes are possible.

Other cities bracing for storms Thursday include Dallas; Jackson, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and Tallahassee, Florida.

A tornado watch has been issued in southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

This comes after Wednesday storms brought massive hail and powerful winds to Mississippi and at least 10 reported tornadoes to Texas, Alabama and Georgia.

And on Friday, a threat of hail and damaging winds will stretch from Colorado to Florida, including Little Rock, Arkansas; Jackson; and Montgomery, Alabama.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced late Wednesday that the state’s highway patrol has seized enough fentanyl in San Francisco in the past six weeks to kill the city’s entire population nearly three times over.

Since the governor launched a public safety partnership between the city and state on May 1, the California Highway Patrol has seized more than 4.2 kilograms of fentanyl in the Tenderloin neighborhood and the immediate surrounding area of San Francisco. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers a lethal dose of fentanyl to be 2 milligrams. One kilogram has the potential to kill 500,000 people, and the amount seized in San Francisco is enough to potentially kill 2.1 million people, according to a press release from Newsom’s office.

Furthermore, in the first six weeks of the operation, the California Highway Patrol also seized more than 957 grams of methamphetamine, 319 grams of cocaine and 31 grams of heroin. The agency also made 92 felony and misdemeanor arrests, including on charges related to possession of fentanyl, illegal firearm possession, driving under the influence and domestic violence.

The joint public safety operation in San Francisco has brought together multiple agencies to tackle the fentanyl and opioid crisis, including the California Highway Patrol, the California National Guard, the California Department of Justice, the San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. The effort is focused on “targeting fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city, and holding the operators of drug trafficking rings accountable,” according to Newsom’s office.

The governor previously said that the operation will not result in criminalizing those addicted to drugs.

“I’m proud of the CHP and CalGuard’s lifesaving efforts to shut down the Tenderloin’s poison pipeline and hold drug traffickers accountable,” Newsom said in a statement on Wednesday night. “These early results show promise and serve as a call to action: we must do more to clean up San Francisco’s streets, help those struggling with substance use and eradicate fentanyl from our neighborhoods.”

Prior to becoming California’s governor in 2019, Newsom was the mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. The city’s Tenderloin neighborhood is rife with open-air drug use and dealing.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat severe pain, is the leading driver of drug overdose deaths in the United States, as well as in San Francisco. Although the number of accidental overdose deaths recorded in the city have declined in recent years, they remain high. Of the 620 deaths in 2022, 72% were attributed to fentanyl, according to data released by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

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