Key Facts Of The Day 2/10

Storms and Flooding

• Unhoused Texans weather another winter storm with little aid.

  • Advocates say emergency communications have not improved much since last year, and people experiencing homelessness were less likely to seek help this year because of new state and local policies targeting them.

  • During last week’s storm, many unhoused Texans still did not have adequate information from municipalities about where to find shelter and how to get there.

  • In Houston, officials are reporting at least three people without shelter died when temperatures dropped last week.

  • The city of Austin also directed people in need of shelter to dial 311 this year, but Cam Bond, an Austin-based organizer and social worker, said her calls to the phone line went to an automated voicemail throughout the storm.

  • Bond also received reports of unhoused families being separated by gender at city shelters.

• On Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it received a record-breaking amount of funding requests in 2021 for flood mitigation grant programs.

• Millburn, New Jersey businesses are slowly recovering five months after the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Ida.

  • Flooding severely damaged the businesses along Millburn Avenue  and many of those businesses have now moved out of the area or are still under construction for repairs.

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.

• A wildfire fanned by gusty Santa Ana winds erupted in hills on the Southern California coast and burned near homes early Thursday.

  • The fire burned above the gated Emerald Bay community near Laguna Beach, about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

  • The city of Laguna Beach tweeted an order to immediately evacuate Emerald Bay and the Irvine Cove area.

  • North Laguna was ordered to be prepared to evacuate.

  • The fire broke out as Southern California is in the grip of a winter heat wave with gusty winds and witheringly low humidity levels that sap moisture from vegetation.

  • The local school district said all schools were closed.

  • There were no immediate reports of damage.

Extreme Heat

• Climate change threatens future Winter Olympics sites.

  • In the past 70 years, Beijing has warmed up about 9 degrees in the month of February.

  • The Olympics spent $60 million in order to create enough fake snow.

  • By the end of the century, only one of the 21 Winter Olympics host cities would be suitable for the Winter Olympics and that city is Sapporo, Japan.

• This year’s Super Bowl in Los Angeles could be the hottest on record as an extended stretch of abnormally warm weather moves over Southern California.

  • Heat advisories, the first on record in California during February, are in effect through the weekend affecting more than 16 million people.

  • High temperatures late this week and weekend, normally in the 60s, will be about 20 to 25 degrees above normal.

  • Visitors from cold weather states not acclimated to the heat may be at a higher risk for heat related illnesses.

• Drought now affects 99% of California.

• Since highway expansions tend to bring more greenhouse gas emissions, the fast-growing state of Colorado adopted a first-of-its-kind climate change regulation.

  • It will push transportation planners to redirect funding away from highway expansions and toward projects that cut vehicle pollution, such as buses and bike lanes.

  • In Colorado there are devastating wildfires and droughts fueled by global warming and where Denver and the Front Range often exceed federal ozone pollution standards, partly from vehicle exhaust.

  • Under Gov. Jared Polis, the state aims to cut transportation emissions 40% below 2005 levels by 2030.

  • Transportation is the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases, producing 29% of emissions.

New Reports And Data

• A February 2022 study found that droughts occurring at the same time across different regions of the planet could place an unprecedented strain on the global agricultural system and threaten the water security of millions of people.

• A February 2022 study found a clear correlation between warming waters, decreased sea ice, and reduced abundance of Antarctic silverfish.

• A February 2022 study found that thawing of permafrost due to climate change could expose the Arctic population to much greater concentrations of the invisible, lung cancer-causing gas Radon.