Key Facts Of The Day 3/4

Storms and Flooding

• Two back-to-back winter storms will bring wintry weather to the U.S. over the weekend.

  • On Saturday and Sunday, a storm system making its way across the middle of the country is expected to bring the risk of both wintry weather and severe storms.

  • There will also be a chance for accumulating freezing rain over parts of the Upper Midwest.

  • Some isolated areas could see more than a quarter of an inch of ice.

  • The snowfall is expected to pick up in intensity and coverage from the Rockies to the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest Saturday, with a large area of sleet and freezing rain also possible.

  • Severe storms are also expected to impact parts of Indiana and Missouri.

• Two storms are due to move into Southern California, bringing periods of rain and snow through at least part of Sunday.

  • The first downpours arrived Thursday night, bringing areas of brief, heavy downpours, thunderstorms and small hail across the Los Angeles Basin.

  • Mountain communities above 5,000 feet could see about 5 to 10 inches of snow.

  • By Friday morning, the heaviest rain ended, but drivers should expect slick roads.

  • Friday’s storm is expected to bring another chance of thunderstorms and mountain snow.

  • The second system arrives Saturday and continues into Sunday. Winter storm watches and warnings will be in effect through Sunday morning in the mountains.

• The Agriculture Department will spend more than $166 million to address flood control projects — many long overdue — made more urgent by climate change.

Wildfires

• As of Feb. 25, 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.

• A dryline expected to develop within a warm airmass coupled with windy surface conditions could also produce a “critical fire weather risk” across parts of southern eastern New Mexico, the Texas/Oklahoma panhandle, southeast Colorado and much of Kansas over the weekend.

• This weekend there is an elevated risk of wildfire danger in North Texas.

• The South Carolina Forestry Commission is urging “extreme caution” when burning outdoors after they reported 32 wildfires across the state on Thursday.

• Kansas Governor issues emergency disaster declaration due to weekend wildfire threat.

  • The declaration will allow the state to preposition aerial firefighting assets from the Kansas Forest Service for a quicker response to any fires that may begin.

Extreme Heat

• Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the country, is projected to dip past a critical level, which will threaten water supplies as climate change-fueled drought continues to grip the Western U.S.

  • As of Thursday, Lake Powell had fallen to just over 3,526 feet in elevation, which is just over 24% of capacity and less than two feet away from the critical level.

  • Lake Powell’s plunging water level threatens Glen Canyon Dam’s capacity to produce hydropower. Glen Canyon Dam provides power for many states including Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Nebraska.

  • The low water levels in the critical reservoirs amplifies inequities across the Western states, where the poorest cultivators and those who have the least senior water rights are not going to get any water.

• Drought-stricken California’s winter mountain snowpack is far below average after two historically dry months that reversed gains from storms late last year.

  • The water content of the statewide snowpack is just 63% of normal to date and the snowmelt forecast is just 66% of average, which is not enough to fill reservoirs.

• Warmer temperatures, milder winters, shifting starts to seasons and extreme weather events will work to invasives’ advantage in certain parts of the U.S., with the Northeast and Upper Midwest tipped as future invasive hot spots.

  • Because invasives are great at adapting, they’ll respond more quickly to changing conditions.

  • If things get too hot in southern regions of the country, invasives will just migrate north in search of a suitable home.

  • While rising carbon dioxide levels are like performance-enhancing drugs for all plants, studies show that invasives seem to benefit more, and it possibly even boosts their immunity against the herbicides used to control them.

New Reports And Data

• A March 2022 study found that climate change is a contributing factor to the Oroville Dam spillway incident.

• A March 2022 study found that changes in air pollution are linked with dry spells in Asia and summer heatwaves in Europe.

• A March 2022 study found a way for solar panels to pull in water vapor to grow crops in the desert.