Have you noticed an unusual smell or flavor in your tap water over the past few days?

What's wrong with Raleigh tap water? Algae bloom at Falls Lake behind the smell, color

'Earthy and musty:' Here's why your tap water may taste strange this weekend in Raleigh

Athens Drive Magnet High School and Conn Magnet Elementary School won national awards Saturday at the Magnet Schools of America's annual conference.

Top two magnet schools in the US are in Wake County

Athens Drive High School

All assets associated with the tag: cactus

Cactus Coverage

After a month of temperatures over 110, even plants that thrive in the hot, dry weather are suffering.

Everyone looks at cactus and say, oh, these are desert plants. So they should be just fine. But cactus are living things. But unlike you and me, they can't get out of the heat or the sun. Kimberly Mchugh with the desert botanical garden says this record breaking stretch of record breaking heat is breaking the cactus all over the state. They literally can't function. And the way I describe it is they start to suffocate. Here's how uses photosynthesis like all plants do, but they do half of it at night when it's supposed to be cooler. But this month it's barely ever dropped below 90 overnight. So just like when we're sleeping, when the cactus is supposed to be recovering, they're really roasting. And that's the same thing for cactus at a certain temperature for a certain length of time. They just can't do it anymore. This is a, so that's in pretty good shape. It's standing straight, push on it. Now, I can tell you this one is really firm, which is great if it was soft or squishy, that means the cactus is in bad shape. It probably can't hold itself up anymore if it started to tilt sign. That probably means it's on its way to falling over. And another warning sign that you've probably seen in your own yard, sun scorch. So you start to see yellowing and not just Soros that's happening to pretty much all cactus mchugh says the garden can try to throw some shade cloth over them, but these things can be 2030 ft tall, pretty much on their own. And once they're in bad shape, that's pretty much it. If that plant is really starting to shut down, it doesn't matter how much water you pour on them, they won't be able to take it up and do anything with it. The heat can't stay around forever. Eventually it has to cool down. But for now, even the symbol of the state is struggling to make it through.

Arizona is so hot the cacti are dying

A Mexican restaurant in downtown Raleigh is missing some of their decorative cacti this holiday season.



Cactus Coverage

Arizona is so hot the cacti are dying

Raleigh restaurant offers $200 reward for tips on stolen cacti