Key Facts Of The Day 3/1

Storms and Flooding

• A Category 4 “atmospheric river” was bombarding the Pacific Northwest Monday, unleashing heavy rain and high-altitude snow while triggering flooding and the risk of avalanches.

  • National Weather Service offices in Seattle and Portland, Ore., issued flood warnings for multiple area rivers while the Northwest Avalanche Center had placed avalanche warnings in effect for large portions of the Cascade Mountains, describing “very dangerous” conditions.

  • Because of the heavy rain potential, flood watches covered much of western Washington and northwest Oregon through Tuesday afternoon.

  • Flooding had already begun along portions of the Skokomish River in northwest Washington Monday.

  • As of midday Monday, Seattle had received 1.63 inches of rain, a new record for Feb. 28.

  • Olympia had also set a new rainfall record for Feb. 28 with over 2 inches.

  • Because of the heavy snow and avalanche risk, Snoqualmie and Stevens passes, along major interstates east of Seattle, were shut down in both directions.

  • The weather system was also bringing wind gusts over 50 MPH to coastal areas in central and northern Oregon and Washington state as well as “chaotic surf.”

• Some drought-stricken areas of the southwestern United States will soon receive beneficial rainfall as the atmospheric river that has been unloading excessive rain over the Northwest makes progress farther to the south and east.

• Affected by severe weather events, Kentucky and Tennessee have a big difference in forecasting.

  • The Kentucky Climate Center at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green has, over the last 15 years, assembled a network of 76 local weather monitoring stations.

  • Tennessee has no statewide network of localized weather monitors. Local forecasters are often left to estimate local weather conditions and storm activity where people are at risk.

    • Since 2000, Tennessee has experienced 33 major disaster declarations involving severe storms and flooding.

• According to the IPCC report, an estimated 1 billion people living in low-lying cities and settlements will be at risk from coastal flooding events by 2050.

Wildfires

• As of Friday, there are currently 6 large active wildfires that have burned 12,214 acres across CA, FL, MS, and OK. As of Friday, 7,087 wildfires have burned 149,774 acres across the country.

• Some homeowners recovering from Colorado’s most destructive wildfire in history say they could end up paying tens of thousands of dollars more to rebuild because of environmentally sustainable construction standards passed shortly before the blaze.

• Florida’s wildfire season is on the horizon and officials are urging everyone to take precautionary steps.

Extreme Heat

• The IPCC report notes that the effects of melting glaciers and thawing permafrost are now approaching irreversibility, that half the world is now living with annual periods of severe water scarcity, and that there will be global increases in heat-related deaths without more efforts toward adaptation.

• The IPCC report bluntly states that the Great Barrier Reef is in crisis and suffering grave impacts from climate change, with frequent and severe coral bleaching caused by warming ocean temperatures.

• Researchers say science skewed by racism is increasing the threat of global warming to people of color.

  • More diversity in research could speed the search for climate solutions and distribute the burden of warming more equitably.

  • Most of the nearly 1 billion people worldwide facing an increased threat of food insecurity and displacement from global warming are Black and Brown.

  • Their stories aren’t being told in part because voices from communities of color and Indigenous populations have been systematically excluded from scientific fields critical to fully understanding and explaining climate impacts.

• New legislation in California hopes to reduce heat-related deaths by ranking heat waves similarly to hurricanes, by using categories and names.

  • Globally, people are suffering from heat because of a deadly awareness gap.

  • The proposed legislation would establish a Chief Heat Officer role, create an interagency heat task force and an extreme heat advisory council.

  • Naming extreme temperature events could begin as early as this summer.

New Reports And Data

• A February 2022 report found that human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks.

• A February 2022 study found that flaring of natural gas at oil and gas fields in the United States, primarily in North Dakota and Texas, contributed to dozens of premature deaths in 2019.

• A February 2022 study found that labeling of plastic products needs a drastic overhaul including a new ‘sustainability scale’ to help consumers.