Key Facts Of The Day 5/9

Storms and Flooding

• After facing unseasonal thunderstorms, farm communities in the Red River Valley of Minnesota and North Dakota remained flooded on Monday morning.
  • The Red River usually crests in spring, however, the annual spring crest already happened weeks ago, and it was minor.
  • The second flood is happening in a historically dry month when the Red usually recedes and farmers begin tilling the valley’s rich soils for another cropping season.
  • Scientists project that the Red River Valley will start to face the consequences of climate change with warmer, wetter springs and hotter, dryer summers, which will affect the region’s agriculture.
    •  The Red River Valley produces much of the nation’s wheat, corn, potatoes, and sugar beets.
• The Tanyard, a 200-year-old neighborhood in Pensacola, Florida is at risk of going under by either floods or fill dirt.
  • The Tanyard occupies some of the lowest ground in a city that has been hit by nine hurricanes since 1975.
  • Rising seas could swell nearby Pensacola Bay by 12 inches in less than 30 years — meaning a 6-foot storm surge would put the entire Tanyard underwater.
  • New development projects have fresh fill dirt placed on construction sites in the Tanyard that will become an elevated foundation for new apartments and houses.
  • The “fill and build” practice can be dangerous as stormwater can run off the higher lots and inundate neighboring homes and streets — effectively raising a community’s flood risk and putting longtime residents at even greater peril from hurricanes and extreme storms.

Wildfires

• As of Monday, there are currently 12 large active wildfires that have burned 322,309 across AZ, CO, NM, and TX. As of Monday, 23,366 wildfires have burned 1,269,758 acres across the country.
• As of Monday, the Tunnel Fire in Arizona has burned 19,075 and is 98% contained. 
• As of Monday, the Cooks Peak Fire in New Mexico has burned 59,359 acres and is 97% contained.
• As of Monday, the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in New Mexico has burned 176,273 acres and is 43% contained.
  • On Sunday, strong winds helped spread the wildfire in New Mexico farther into small farming communities in the state’s mountain valleys.
    • Dangerous, gusty winds were expected to continue Monday across northeast New Mexico, complicating the fight against wildfires that threaten thousands of homes in mountainous rural communities.
  • The fire destroyed at least 276 structures and led to the evacuation of nearly 13,000 residences.
  • A crew of 1,685 personnel and a large aircraft fleet — including four water scoopers and 12 helicopters — are working to combat the blaze, which has a perimeter stretching roughly 300 miles.
  • Firefighters have been hindered by unexpectedly strong winds at night.
• A combination of strong winds, high temperatures, and low humidity was forecast by the National Weather Service to create an “exceptionally dangerous and likely historic stretch of critical to extreme fire weather conditions” for several days.
• Nationwide, close to 2,000 square miles have burned so far this year, with 2018 being the last time this much fire had been reported at this point.

Extreme Heat

• On Saturday, temperatures as high as 112 degrees shattered records in Texas, setting off a prolonged heatwave that will expand through much of the central U.S.
  • Records set on Saturday:
    • 107 degrees in Abilene, Del Rio, and San Angelo, Texas.
    • 106 degrees in Childress, Texas.
    • 102 degrees in Lubbock, Texas.
    • 101 degrees in San Antonio and Amarillo, Texas.
    • 98 degrees in Dalhart, Texas.
    • 96 degrees in Corpus Christi, Texas.
    • 91 degrees in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
    • 89 degrees in Denver, Colorado.
    • 87 degrees in Galveston, Texas.
  • Parts of Texas could see more record-challenging heat in the next six days while record highs near 90 degrees could expand as far north as the Great Lakes by Thursday.
  • On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued heat advisories for portions of Central and South Texas.
  • The heat will also intensify a critical-to-extreme fire threat that stretches from New Mexico to West Texas.
• On Saturday, South Florida also had record highs in Miami at 93 degrees and Fort Lauderdale at 93 degrees.
• On Friday, state and grid officials warned that California faces the possibility of electricity blackouts returning this summer because of power supply shortages.
  •  In a worst-case scenario with a West-wide heatwave or further supply outages, as many as 3.75 million California homes could lose power.
  • The risk is the highest in the early evening when solar power is no longer available.
  • Power shortages this summer could happen if demand spikes because of extreme heat or if there’s a wildfire that cuts power supplies.
  • Power managers said they plan to use options that include having large businesses turn off their power in exchange for lower rates.
• The U.N. must pay greater attention to the unique challenges facing Indigenous migrants as they are the ones who continue to bear the brunt of climate change and seek refuge outside of their homelands.
  • Many Indigenous people in Mexico and Central America are farmers and are particularly sensitive to climate disasters, changes in weather patterns, and drought. 

New Reports And Data

• A May 2022 study found that super cyclones are likely to have a much more devastating impact on people in South Asia in future years.
• A May 2022 study found that consumers in wealthy countries enjoy the agricultural goods, while people in less-developed nations endure heightened greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation.
• A May 2022 study found that most of the world’s ocean is steadily losing its year-to-year memory under global warming.