Key Facts Of The Day 4/5

Storms and Flooding

• Four people were rescued Monday night from fast-moving floodwaters in McKinney, Texas.

• Severe weather is again expected in parts of the South over the next two days, with damaging winds, hail and tornadoes possible Tuesday from Louisiana to North Carolina.

  • Many of the same areas that have seen severe weather over the past few weeks will be in threat of it again over the week ahead.

  • More than 40 million people are at some level of risk for severe storms from the central Gulf Coast states into the Carolinas.

  • Storms already were hitting parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Tuesday morning.

    • Strong winds pushed down trees in portions of northwestern Louisiana, and large hail was reported in Mississippi’s Rankin County northeast of Jackson, as well as in Marengo and Choctaw counties in western Alabama.

  • The most serious risk exists for about 9 million people in parts of southern Mississippi, parts of the Florida Panhandle, southern and central Alabama and Georgia, and parts of South Carolina.

    • Tornado watches are in effect until 11 a.m. CT for parts of northeast Louisiana and much of central and southern Mississippi, and until 2 p.m. CT for portions of central and southern Alabama and parts of the Florida Panhandle.

• By Wednesday, a separate system will form, bringing another round of storms to the South and extending the severe threat for another day.

• Accuweather forecasts 2022 to be the 7th straight above-average Atlantic hurricane season.

  • They predict the formation of between three and five major hurricanes with sustained winds of at least 111 MPH. Those major hurricanes are forecast to be part of six to eight hurricanes with winds of at least 74 MPH out of 16-20 tropical storms in 2022.

  • Between two and four of the storms could be expected to hit the U.S.-regulated northern Gulf of Mexico, home to the nation’s offshore oil and natural gas production and half of its refining capacity.

Wildfires

• As of Tuesday, there are currently 15 large active wildfires that have burned 116,614 acres across  FL, GA, KS, KY, OK, NC, TN, and TX. As of Tuesday, 16,693 wildfires have burned 770,732 acres across the country.

• As of Tuesday, the Crittenberg Complex in Texas has burned 33,175 acres and is 90% contained.

• California is calling upon Native American tribes to bring back the once-prohibited practice of lighting controlled burns to help prevent devastating wildfires that have wreaked havoc on the state.

  • State, federal, and local agencies will partner with tribes to reintroduce the Native American tradition of prescribed, cultural burns, which are purposefully set, low-intensity fires.

  • These burning practices will help make “forests more resilient” and decrease the likelihood of future wildfires.

  • California Governor Newsom’s plan intends to expand “beneficial fire” practices to 400,000 acres annually by 2025 — part of the state’s overall goal to treat 1 million acres annually by the same year.

Extreme Heat

• At the current rate of emissions, the world will burn through its remaining “carbon budget” by 2030, putting the goal of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius out of reach.

• Developed countries are the source of 57% of all greenhouse gases emitted by humans since 1850, while the least developed countries account for just 0.4% of total planet-warming pollution.

  • Globally, the richest 10% of households generate as much as 45% of emissions.

• The new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made it clear that nations’ current pledges to curb greenhouse-gas emissions most likely will not stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, within the next few decades.

  • Earth has already warmed about 1.1 degrees Celsius on average since the 19th century.

• The IPCC report found that the world needs to invest three to six times what it’s currently spending on mitigating climate change if it wants to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius.

• The IPCC report also concluded that the prices of solar and wind energy, and electric vehicle batteries, have dropped significantly since 2010 and it may now be “more expensive” in some cases to maintain highly polluting energy systems than to switch to clean sources.

• Sierra snowpack worsens and falls to lowest level in 7 years.

  • The snowpack is 38% of average statewide, which is 23% lower than at the same point last year. The amount of snow in April is considered critical because it indicates how much water will be available through the summer.

  • At Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe, California state engineers today found a shrinking patch of snow that contained only 4% of the location’s average water content.

  • Though state officials reported that early snowmelt has started to refill foothill reservoirs, the water level in Lake Shasta, critical to federal supplies for farms, people and endangered salmon, sits at less than half the average for this date.

New Reports And Data

• An April 2022 study found that the western U.S. is facing a greatly heightened risk of heavy rains inundating areas recently scarred by wildfires, new research warns.

• An April 2022 study found that there is now a concerning degree of plastic pollution in the Arctic Ocean.

• An April 2022 study found that a whopping 70% of understory bird species declined in the Panamanian forest between 1977 and 2020.