Climate Impact Report – 09/15

Quick Facts

As of Thursday morning, Tropical Storm Fiona was located about 545 miles east of the Leeward Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 50 MPH, and was moving west at 13 MPH.
- Up to six inches with isolated higher amounts were forecast for the northern Leeward Islands, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and eastern Hispaniola. The rains could produce flash flooding and mudslides.
Three people were rescued after getting trapped in vehicles stuck in flood waters northeast of Las Vegas early Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, the death toll climbed to 40 from the July floods in eastern Kentucky.
Years after hurricanes hit North Carolina, delays in disaster relief have complicated recovery for some residents.
- Nearly six years after flood damage from Hurricane Matthew displaced Thad Artis from his home in Goldsboro, he has still not been placed in permanent housing.
- Still working through long-term repairs from Matthew and Florence, North Carolina officials say recent labor shortages and supply chain issues have exacerbated the existing challenges.

As of Thursday, there are currently 91 large active wildfires that have burned 854,587 across CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, and WY. As of Thursday, 50,691 wildfires have burned 6,717,555 acres across the country.
In California, 10 fires have burned 152,361 acres as of Thursday.
- The Fairview Fire has burned 28,307 acres and is 65% contained as of Thursday.
- The Mosquito Fire has burned 50,330 acres and is 25% contained as of Thursday.
In Nevada, 1 fire has burned 702 acres as of Thursday.
In Oregon, 9 fires have burned 310,327 acres as of Thursday.
- The Cedar Creek Fire has burned 92,548 acres and is 0% contained as of Thursday.

With the average temperature 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average, this summer was the third-hottest summer in the U.S. in 128 years.
- Texas, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts each had their second-warmest summers on record, while seventeen other states in the West, South, and Northeast had one of their top 10 warmest summers.
Climate change and urban development have pushed Lyme disease to become the most common vector-borne illness in the United States, infecting nearly half a million people annually.
Night temperatures are rising fast, and that’s a problem for rice and other critical crops, which have fewer defenses at night.
Scientists at USC found that the excess risk of death on the hottest days with both high heat and extreme levels of PM2.5 air pollution was about three times higher than for either alone.

A September 2022 study found that the world would save at least $12 trillion by phasing out fossil fuels and shifting to renewable energy by 2050.
A September 2022 report found that nearly 14 million Americans live in areas where pollution from fossil fuel facilities boosts the cancer risk to above EPA’s threshold of concern.