Key Facts Of The Day 2/8

Storms and Flooding

• A storm that unleashed rain and ice over the Carolinas and parts of the mid-Atlantic to start Monday will spread a swath of heavy snow and an icy mix across portions of New England from Monday night to Tuesday.

  • The storm will hit just days after a storm dropped 1-2 feet of snow on part of the region from Friday into Saturday.

  • In the more northern locations of New England, a general 6-12 inches of snow will fall mainly from late Monday night into Tuesday.

• Thousands remained without power and schools were closed on Monday in parts of Tennessee in the aftermath of an ice storm last week.

  • More than 60,000 customers of Memphis Light, Gas and Water were without power Monday afternoon.

  •  All Memphis-Shelby County Schools were closed on Monday because of the power failures.

  • In Memphis, ice began accumulating on Friday from freezing rain, which led to crashes on roads, downed trees and power failures.

• The winter storm left more than a foot of heavy snow in northern parts of New York and New England.

  • The utility Central Hudson in New York said on Monday that it had restored power to about 87% of the customers who had lost it and was still working to restore power to more than 8,000 customers in Ulster County, about 100 miles north of New York City.

• Recent winter storm is creating more potholes across western Massachusetts.

• Ice dams create issues across Northeast Ohio following winter storms.

  • Ice dams can become so heavy that your gutter or eaves can’t handle the weight and are ripped from the home.

  • Ice dams can also become so large, they have nowhere to go and begin to seep into your home and insulation and eventually down your walls and onto your floors.

Wildfires

• As of Friday, there are currently 12 large active wildfires that have burned 2,621 acres across AL, FL. and OK. As of Friday, 2,388 wildfires have burned 40,822 acres across the country.

• The fastest population growth in the West’s wildland fringes is in ecosystems most vulnerable to wildfires.

  • Some areas of the wildland-urban interface – the land where development ends and wilderness begins – are at much higher risk of burning than others.

  • Under the same parched conditions, more acreage tends to burn in these zones because of differences in at least a dozen plant and soil traits.

• Yosemite National Park fire crews have spent the past couple of weeks collecting and setting ablaze dry fuels found on the forest ground.

Extreme Heat

• Mountain glaciers may have less ice than estimated, straining freshwater supply.

  • Increasing temperatures and heat waves have left glaciers around the world without any snow cover.

  • This could affect nearly 1.9 billion people living in and downstream of mountainous areas who depend on melting ice and snow for drinking, agriculture and hydroelectric power.

• An intense dome of high pressure will build over the West Coast, bringing an extended period of summerlike, potentially record-breaking heat to California.

  • Large parts of California will be between the 70s and 80s as dry winds sweep the southern half of the state.

  • Gusty winds can knock down power lines and trees and if any fires start they could easily spread.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend $1 billion on projects for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to use practices that curb climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions or capture and store carbon.

  • The agriculture sector accounts for more than 10% of U.S. emissions.

• Farmers in the U.S. are getting ready to plant, but a wintertime drought gives them concerns about germination in dryer than usual soil.

• The Deschutes River Conservancy in Oregon was awarded $1.37 million as part of a federal drought relief package.

  • The Deschutes River Basin (DRC), the Deschutes Basin Board of Control, and its municipal partners within the Central Oregon Cities Organization will use the funds to create a Water Bank for time and energy-efficient mechanisms to move water between users and the river.

  • The Bank will rely on voluntary actions and activities will be focused on restoring critical streamflows, assuring that farmers get the water they need to grow crops, and securing future water for growing urban communities.

• Benton, Sherburne, and Wright counties in Minnesota are in the abnormally dry to moderate drought category.

New Reports And Data

• A February 2022 study found that rapidly growing communities in western U.S. forests and shrublands are nestled in zones where local soil and plant traits amplify the effect of climate change on wildfire hazards and lead to bigger burns.

• A February 2022 study found that new radar technology records Antarctic glaciers losing ice faster than ever documented before.

• A February 2022 study found that only 15% of coastal areas around the world remain intact, exposing the need for urgent coastal rehabilitation and conservation on a global scale.