Key Facts Of The Day 4/27

Storms and Flooding

• North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum plans to ask for federal help in dealing with damaging floods and a severe winter storm that left thousands without electricity last week.

  • A spring storm brought freezing rain that developed into blizzard conditions.

    • Hundreds of power poles were snapped and roads became impassable, preventing utility crews from reaching some areas to restore power.

  • In eastern North Dakota, heavy rains and snowmelt caused flooding in fields and inundated rural roads and state highways.

  • Some areas were also affected by record snowfall during the historic blizzard April 12-14.

• The tornado outbreak in December which picked up and destroyed a large number of mobile homes, raised questions about lax regulations.

  • 17 of the 74 people killed during the devastating tornado outbreak four months ago were in mobile homes, which experts say is one of the deadliest places to be during a tornado.

  • More than 10% of residential dwellings in Kentucky are mobile homes or manufactured homes.

  • Studies show that at least 40% of tornado deaths occur in mobile or manufactured homes.

  • Experts are calling on stricter standards from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which sets and enforces safety regulations for mobile and manufactured homes through its Office of Manufactured Housing Programs.

Wildfires

• As of Wednesday, there are currently 11 large active wildfires that have burned 223,796 acres across AK, AZ, FL, NE, NM, and VA. As of Wednesday, 21,181 wildfires have burned 1,080,836 acres across the country.

• As of Wednesday, the Tunnel Fire in Arizona has burned 19,344 and is 30% contained.

• As of Wednesday, the Hermits Peak fire in New Mexico has burned 60,649 acres and is 20% contained.

Extreme Heat

• Late last week, the states agreed to forfeit their water from Lake Powell in order to ensure that the reservoir can still produce power; however, Officials at the Bureau of Reclamation will act as if that the water did go to Mead and treat Mead’s water level as though it’s higher than it really is.

  • The deal protects the towns and tribal communities that rely on Powell for water, but only for a short time.

  • For the millions of people who rely on Lake Mead, meanwhile, the deal just postpones a shortage declaration that was bound to arrive in a few years anyway.

  • As long as there’s a drought on the Colorado, federal officials will have to choose between hydroelectric power in communities that depend on Lake Powell and water access in those that rely on Lake Mead.

• Water districts in El Paso and southern New Mexico will start releasing irrigation water in June, even as water is in short-supply due to the drought that continues to develop in the Rio Grande Basin.

  • The Elephant Butte Irrigation District announced an allotment of 5 inches of water per acre, a far cry from the full allotment of 36 inches.

  • El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 has yet to announce its allotments but manager Jesús Reyes estimated it will be 18 inches of water per acre.

  • Water from El Rio Grande contributes to 40% of El Paso’s drinking water supply, agriculture and ecosystem restoration.

  • Scientists from the USGS New Mexico Water Science Center and the University of Oklahoma found that peak spring runoff on the Rio Grande will continue to arrive earlier with the effects of climate change.

  • By 2099, if temperatures continue to warm, peak flow could come a month earlier than the historic average.

• As almost 90% of South Dakota remains in severe or moderate drought or abnormally dry, the South Dakota Grassland Coalition is urging ranchers to plan ahead to deal with the impacts of droughts.

• A new report found that keeping organic materials out of landfills and incinerators could scale back emissions driving climate change, while also addressing hunger issues.

  • Approximately 40% of the U.S. food supply goes to waste, and recovering around 30% could nourish every food-insecure American, around 50 million people.

  • Adopting these food waste reduction solutions also means keeping organic materials out of landfills and incinerators, where they produce climate change emissions.

• U.S. Geological Survey researchers have been consulting with Alaska Natives on the migration of wild berries to understand how climate change is affecting permafrost.

  • The researchers learned that the abundance and fruiting cycles of the berries, and where they were found, were changing along with the warmer temperatures affecting the permafrost.

New Reports And Data

• An April 2022 study found that climate change could see 4% of global annual economic output lost by 2050 and hit many poorer parts of the world disproportionately hard.

• An April 2022 report found that keeping organic materials out of landfills and incinerators could scale back emissions driving climate change, while also addressing hunger issues.

• An April 2022 study found that there will be increased occurrences of flash flooding across most of the U.S.